UC-NRLF 


B    E    fi33    735 


BERKELEY 

LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 


VINDICATION 


RUSSIA  AND  THE  EMPEROR  NICHOLAS. 


VINDICATION 


RUSSIA 


THE   EMPEROR  NICHOLAS. 


By  DAVID  K.  HITCHCOCK, 

AUTHOR    OK    FAMILIAR    OBSERVATIONS    ON    THE    PRESERVATIOIT 
OF    THE    TEETH. 


BOSTON: 
SAXTON,   PETRCE,    AND    COMPANY. 

1844. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1844, 

By  David  K.  Hitchcock, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts 


LOAN  STACK 


TO 

HER  LMPERIAL  HIGHNESS, 

MARIA    NICOLA.IEVNA, 

THE   GRAND   DUCHESS   OF  LEICHTENBERG, 

WHOSE 

PROUD    DISTINCTION    IT    IS    TO    BE    ALIKE    ENNOBLED    BY 

THE    QUALITIES    OF    HER    HEART    AND    MIND, 

AND    BY    HER    HIGH    BIRTH, 

THIS   VOLUME, 

IN  ADMIRATION   OF   HER  CHARACTER, 

IS     MOST     RESPECT KDLLY 


DEDICATED. 


842 


PREFACE 


We  would  ask  the  unbiased  attention  of  the 
reader  to  the  examination  of  the  following  pages. 
We  say  unbiased ^  because  we  think  it  necessary, 
in  order  to  judge  fairly  of  their  merits,  that  the  mind 
should  be  divested  of  the  strong  and  bitter  preju- 
dices which  have  been  created  against  Russia. 
We  do  not  blame  any  one  for  forming  such  opin- 
ions ;  indeed,  we  do  not  see  how  it  could  have 
been  otherwise.  Our  country  has  been  flooded 
with  books,  pamphlets,  and  tracts,  containing  false 
statements  respecting  the  policy  and  acts  of  the 
Russian  government ;  and  what  has  been  still  more 
effectual,  we  have  had  hosts  of  lecturers,  who,  for 
years,  have  been  canvassing  almost  every  town  and 
village,  calumniating  Russia  and  vilifying  the  Em- 
peror Nicholas.  These  lecturers,  with  hardly  an 
exception,  have  been,  and  are,  natives  of  Poland, 
who  well  know,  when  speaking  to  an  audience, 
that,  however  absurd  their  statements,  and  enor- 


10  PREFACE. 

mous  their  falsehoods,  may  be,  it  has  not  been 
in  the  power  of  any  one  to  contradict  or  refute 
them. 

It  is  strange,  indeed,  that  there  has  never  ap- 
peared a  single  line,  or  lecturer,  in  behalf  of  Russia 
and  its  abused  but  excellent  monarch ;  and  this 
work  (in  the  preparation  of  which  we  have  been 
assisted  by  a  literary  friend)  is  designed  to  throw 
some  light  upon  the  subject,  —  well  convinced  that 
our  countrymen  will  never  consent  to  have  any 
one  ''condemned  unheard;"  therefore,  it  is  be- 
lieved that  it  will  be  efficacious  in  enlightening 
the  minds  of  the  people,  and  in  dissipating  those 
prejudices  which  have  for  years  existed. 

CouET  Street,  Sept.  25,  1844. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  L 

Page. 

Introduction 13 


CHAPTER   II. 
Absolute  Power  not  necessarily  a  Curse.  —  Alexiowitsch  .    36 

CHAPTER  III. 
Early  Condition  of  Poland.  —  Facts  from  History     ...    58 

CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Grand  Duchy  of  Warsaw.  —  The  Emperor  Alexander. 
—  The  Kingdom  and  Constitution  of  Poland.  —  Con- 
spiracy against  Russia.  — Abdication  of  the  Grand  Duke 
Constantine 86 

CHAPTER  V. 

Death  of  the  Emperor  Alexander. — Retrospect. — The 
Military  Colonies 112 

CHAPTER   VI. 
Causes    of  the    Polish    Ins'.irrection.  —  Major  Tochman's 
Tract 120 


12  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Russia.  —  Statistics.  —  Historical  Facts.  —  Russia  as  it  was.  155 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Religious  Customs.  —  Anecdote  of  Peter  the  Great  —  Rus- 
sian Churches.  —  The  Knout 184 

CHAPTER  IX. 
The  Russian  Nobility.  —  Merchants  and  Burghers.   .    .    .  213 

CHAPTER  X. 

Slavery  in   Russia.  —  Slaves.  —  Really    such.  —  Serfs.  — 
Licensed  Serfs.  —  Policy  of  Nicholas 229 

CHAPTER  XI. 

The  Emperor  Nicholas  I.  —  The  Cholera  Mutinies.  —  Let- 
ter from  Dr.  Baird 248 


VINDICATION 


RUSSIA  AND  THE  EMPEROR  NICHOLAS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTION. 


*'  Read  me  any  thing  but  history,"  said  a  distin- 
guished statesman  ;  "for  that  I  know  to  be  false." 
There  was  some  ground  for  his  sarcasm ;  but  we 
should  be  disposed  to  qualify  it,  and  read  thus : 
"  Let  us  read  any  thing  but  a  book  of  travels ;  for 
that  we  know  to  be  worse  than  false,  a  perversion 
of  truth ;  and  nothing,  rather  than  a  book  of  trav- 
els written  by  an  English  man.  An  Enghsh 
woman  does  better. 

Few  travellers  ever  render  strict  justice,  even 
according  to  their  capacities,  to  a  foreign  country 
or  people  ;  —  seldom  when  there  is  a  difference  of 
religion  ;  and  never,  if  there  is  any  ground  of  rivalry 
between  that  country  and  their  own. 

There  is,  naturally,  a  greater  inclination  to  lie 
than  to  speak  the  truth,  when  any  selfish  purpose 
or  feeling  is  to  be  served.  A  lie  finds  easier  and 
readier  belief  when  spoken  of  a  foreign  or  hostile 
people ;  and  in  proportion  to  their  distance  and 
lack  of  intercourse  is  the  chance  of  detection  or 
contradiction. 

2 


14  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

We  do  not  mean  to  be  understood  that  all  men 
are  liars;  but  merely  that  a  disposition  to  lie  is 
inherent  in  mankind.  Men  lie  without  knowing 
it ;  they  see  through  the  stained  glass  of  interest, 
of  vanity,  of  passion,  and  receive  as  truth  what 
their  exaggerated  lenses  present. 

It  is  natural  to  think  well,  first,  of  ourselves, 
individually ;  next,  of  those  we  love ;  and,  lastly, 
of  that  society  of  which  we  are  the  integrants. 
According  to  these  standards  we  are  prone  to  judge 
all  men  and  things ;  and  as  what  we  see  abroad 
agrees  with,  or  varies  from,  that  standard,  it  re- 
ceives our  approbation  or  incurs  our  censure.  A 
disappointment,  or  a  flogging,  gives  us  a  mental  and 
intellectual  jaundice. 

The  Reverend  Mr.  Fiddler,  of  the  High  Church 
of  England,  came  to  this  country  to  teach  us 
natives  Sanscrit,  or,  as  he  calls  it,  Hanscrit.  As 
the  Sanscrit  literature  is  of  little  importance  to  a 
people  who  win  their  daily  bread  by  their  daily  la- 
bor, and  as  there  is  scarcely  the  shadow  of  a  shade 
of  a  chance  that  any  native  of  the  United  States 
will  ever  have  occasion,  or  opportunity,  to  exchange 
salutations  with  a  priest  of  Bramah,  he  found  no 
pupils ;  and,  in  his  disappointment,  wrote  that  we 
had  not  a  scholar  among  us.  If  he  had  found  no 
Episcopal  form  of  worship,  he  would  have  set  us 
all  down  as  heathen. 

A  German  traveller  usually  writes  on  given 
premises  as  he  would  on  a  problem  in  metaphysics 
or  mathematics,  and  reasons  as  fairly  as  he  does 
phlegmatically.  The  danger  with  him  is,  that  he 
is  sometimes  mistaken  in  his  premises. 

Provided  his  national  vanity  is  not  oflended,  and 
pourvu  quHl  s^ainuse^  a  Frenchman  is  ever  a  good- 
natured  traveller.     We  do  not  expect  him  to  do 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  15 

full  justice  to  his  neighbor,  John  Bull.  The  ri- 
valry, and  consequent  prejudices,  of  eight  hundred 
years,  are  not  to  be  extinguished  in  one  generation. 
We  do  not  expect  him  to  like  us  ;  for  we  are  not  a 
fiddUng,  a  dancing,  or  a  dressing  people,  and  we 
care  very  little  for  la  gloire  and  the  spectacle.  But 
our  aborigines  are  exceedingly  courteous  and  po- 
lite ;  they  dance,  and  he  makes  himself  at  home 
among  them  at  once,  and  speaks  of  them  accord- 
ingly. There  is  little  malice  in  your  travelled 
Frenchman ;  if  he  is  not  a  rigid  votary  of  truth, 
it  is  not  that  he  loves  truth  less,  but  that  he  loves 
romance,  sentiment,  and,  above  all,  eifect,  more. 
He  would  prefer  fact  to  fiction,  if  it  produced  as 
striking  a  sensation. 

Of  all  travellers,  John  Bull  is  the  least  fair,  as 
of  all  men  he  is  the  most  disagreeable.  The 
Frenchman  is  vain,  the  Yankee  boastful ;  but  the 
Englishman  is  both  —  and  arrogant,  and  intolerant, 
and,  what  is  worse,  ill-natured,  into  the  bargain. 
He  may,  possibly,  praise  the  Pitcairn's  islanders ; 
for  between  Pitcairn's  and  the  omnipotent,  omni- 
scient, omnipresent  island,  there  can  be  no  possible 
comparison :  he  will,  assuredly,  praise  the  king- 
doms of  Loggun  and  Bornou,  in  the  centre  of 
Africa ;  for  he  has  discovered  them  ;  but  of  any 
Christian  sovereign  power  he  speaks  with  a  reser- 
vation of  his  national  dignity,  and  a  proviso  that 
God  comes  first,  then  the  angels,  the  English  peo- 
ple next,  and  all  other  divisions  of  the  human  race 
afterwards.  Not  a  generous  or  noble  act  can  he 
report,  without  remembering  that  some  Englishman 
has  done  a  nobler  and  more  generous  one ;  not  a 
region  can  he  behold  that  bears  any  comparison 
with  some  little  spot  in  his  native  land  ;  not  a 
custom  can  he  notice,  without  remarking  that  it 


16  VINDICATION     OF    RUSSIA    AND 

is  otherwise,  and  better,  at  home.  Thus  John 
Bull  boasts  of  the  victory  of  Waterloo,  while  all 
Europe  laughs  at  him  ;  and  he  accounts  for  the  ill 
success  of  his  frigate  fights,  in  his  last  war  with  us, 
by  assuming  that  our  ships  are  manned  with  Eng- 
lish seamen.  He  reproaches  us  that  we  have  not 
yet  produced  a  Shakspeare  during  the  half  century 
of  our  national  existence ;  just  as  if  Shakspeare 
did  not  belong  as  much  to  us  as  to  him  ;  and  as  if 
such  men  as  Shakspeare  and  Bonaparte  were  the 
productions  of  months,  not  of  centuries.  He 
finds  fault  with  us  for  using  steel  instead  of  silver 
forks,  and  for  mixing  eggs  in  a  cup  instead  of 
eating  them  from  the  shell.  It  never  comes  into 
his  Boeotian  head  that  eating  eggs  from  the  shell  is 
a  hazardous,  filthy  practice,  and  that  steel  forks 
are  better  than  silver  ,*  no,  for  silver  is  the  fashion 
of  England.  Just  so,  he  condemns  the  despotic 
institutions  and  the  serfdom  of  Russia ;  forgetting 
that  the  civilization  of  Russia  is  little  more  than 
a  century  old ;  that  his  own  Saxon  ancestors  were, 
probably,  born  thralls,  or  villeins,  and  that  the  last 
of  the  English  Henrys  was  as  bloody  and  arbitrary 
a  despot  as  Muley  Tsmael  of  Morocco,  or  any  royal 
cut-throat  that  ever  lived.  And  it  happens,  un- 
luckily, that  we  Yankees,  we  freemen, — we,  the 
most  enlightened  and  most  intelligent  of  all  people 
past,  present,  and  to  come,  get  all  our  notions  of 
men  and  things  abroad  from  English  writers ;  that 
is,  from  the  worst  possible  authorities;  from  men 
who  see  a  rival,  if  not  an  enemy,  in  every  stranger  ; 
who  skurry  through  a  country  with  all  the  speed 
of  steam  and  horse  power, — as  Sheridan  descended 
to  the  bottom  of  a  coal-pit,  —  to  have  it  to  say  that 
they  have  been  there  ;  and,  in  many  cases,  without 
knowing  enough  of  its  language  to  ask  for  food 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  17 

when  tliey  are  hungry.  Such,  we  say,  are  our 
sources  of  information ;  for  there  are  few  of  us, 
comparatively  speaking,  who  can  speak  or  read 
any  other  language  than  their  mother  tongue. 
Europeans  are  better  off:  the  majority  of  them, 
the  English  excepted,  can  speak  more  than  one 
language. 

The  sculptor  moulded  the  man  conquering  the 
lion :  if  the  lion  could  have  chiseled  the  marble,  it 
would  not  have  recorded  an  impossibility  ;  it  would 
have  told  the  truth ;  the  stone  would  have  record- 
ed the  defeat  of  the  man.  Now,  if  Englishmen 
would  content  themselves  with  misrepresenting  us, 
and  condemning  our  thinkings  and  doings,  it  is 
little  we  should  care  ;  for  we  can  understand  what 
they  write,  and  set  them  right  when  they  go 
astray ;  but  wheji  they  tell  us  of  a  distant  and 
unknown  land,  —  such,  for  example,  as  Russia,  — 
when  we  reflect  that  its  inhabitants  are  unable  to 
defend  themselves,  inasmuch  as  not  one  in  a  mil- 
lion of  them  knows  that  any  thing  has  been  said 
of  him  or  his,  or  could  understand  it  if  he  did,  —  we 
are  bound,  in  conscience,  to  consider  that  there  are 
two  sides  to  every  story,  and  that  those  who  have 
slandered  America  and  Americans  are  capable  of 
calumniating  Russia  and  the  Russians  as  well,  or, 
rather,  as  ill. 

"  Of  all  the  states  in  the  world,"  says  the  very 
lively,  very  candid,  and  very  agreeable,  if  not  very 
profound,  author  of  "Letters  from  the  Baltic,"  (a 
lady,)  Russia  is,  at  this  time,  most  particularly  that 
which  requires  the  application  of  principles  ground- 
ed equally  on  the  studious  knowledge  of  the  past, 
and  a  lucid  judgment  of  the  future,  to  render  that 
wholeness  and  impartiality  of  opinion  which  may 
be  comprehensible  to  others  and  just  to  her.  Those 
2* 


18  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

who  would  fairly  judge  Russia  must  first  strip 
themselves  of  those  habits  of  thought  which,  what- 
ever their  seeming,  are  only  coincident  with  the 
age  to  which  they  have  the  accident  to  belong, 
and  go  back  to  those  raw,  but  stable  elements, 
which  are  the  sole  groundwork  for  a  nation's 
prosperity,  and  which,  in  the  present  turmoil  of 
hasty  and  changing  opinions,  have  little  chance  of 
being  comprehended  and  appreciated,  save  by  some 
old-fashioned  representative  of  an  old-fashioned 
country,  who  considers  the  a,  6,  c,  of  loyalty  and 
obedience  the  sole  basis  of  any  safe  knowledge, 
and  of  any  solid  civiHzation. 

"  The  two  species  of  writers  who  have  hitherto 
made  Russia  the  subject  of  their  pens,  are  either 
the  mere  tourist, — who  sees  and  judges  as  the 
passing  traveller,  —  or  those  whom  public  office  or 
private  connection  has  thrown  into  the  highest  cir- 
cles of  the  capital,  and  are  thus  placed  where  they 
may,  it  is  true,  analyze  the  froth,  but  are  far  from 
reaching  the  substance,  of  the  nation.  No  one  has 
hitherto  attempted  the  philosophy  of  this  country, 
than  which  no  subject,  to  reflecting  and  general- 
izing minds,  can  be  more  interesting ;  while  those 
dissertations  on  its  political  aspect,  which  have  ap- 
peared in  our  periodicals,  are  so  colored  with  obvious 
partiality  or  with  obvious  invective,  as  rather  to 
deter  the  reader  from  forming  any  distinct  opinion, 
than  to  give  him  any  premises  whereon  to  rest. 

"Russia  has  only  two  ranks  —  the  highest  and 
the  lowest ;  consequently,  it  exhibits  all  those  rude- 
nesses of  social  life  which  must  be  attendant  on 
these  two  extreme  positions  of  power  and  depend- 
ence. It  is  in  vain,  therefore,  to  look  for  those 
qualities  which  equally  restrain  the  one  and  pro- 
tect the  other,  and  which  alone  take  root  in  that 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  19 

half-way  class  called  forth  in  the  progress  of  na- 
tions equally  for  the  interest  of  both.  For  in  this 
light  it  is  impossible  to  view  the  scanty  and  broken- 
linked  portion  of  Russian  society,  which  a  sanguine 
and  too  hasty  policy  has  forced,  not  nourished, 
into  existence,  and  which,  at  present,  rather  acts 
as  the  depression,  and  not  the  foundation,  of  that 
most  important  body  denominated  the  middle  ranks 
of  a  nation.  To  study  the  real  destinies  of  Rus- 
sia, the  philosopher  of  mankind  must  descend  to  a 
class  still  in  bondage,  and  not  yet  ripe  for  freedom, 
but  where  the  elements  of  political  stability  and 
commercial  energy  are  already  glaringly  apparent." 
What  have  we  learned  from  all  the  travellers 
who  have  employed  their  pens  on  the  subject  of 
Russia  and  Poland  ?  Sketches  of  manners,  which 
may  be  faithful,  or  not ;  descriptions  of  sights  and 
places,  and  pictures  of  towns  and  scenes ;  but 
nothing  that,  unless  by  inference,  gives  us  an  in- 
sight into  the  character  of  the  people  and  the  gov- 
ernment of  Russia,  or  its  operations ;  —  not  the  na- 
ture of  the  bondage  in  which  a  great  class  of  that 
people  are  held,  or  its  comparative  magnitude  and 
importance;  —  not  even  the  important  fact  that 
above  meets  our  eye  for  the  first  time,  that  there 
is  no  middle  class  in  Russia.  The  lady,  too,  we 
believe,  is  the  first  who  has  hinted  that  the  civili- 
zation of  Russia,  defective  and  imperfect  as  it  is, 
is  the  forced  creation  of  a  "  sanguine  and  too  hasty 
policy."  They,  the  writers  above  mentioned,  have 
given  us  the  naked  outline  of  history ;  a  dry  chro- 
nology of  events,  without  any  of  the  filling,  with- 
out any  of  the  causes,  without  any  of  the  springs 
of  action,  that  have  moved  to  or  in  the  course  of 
such  events.  As  well  might  a  person  who  never 
saw  or  heard  of  a  horse  form  an  idea  of  the  struc- 


20  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

ture  and  qualities  of  the  animal  from  its  naked 
skeleton,  as  we  of  the  actual  condition  of  Russia, 
or  Poland,  from  any  data  yet  given  to  the  Eng- 
lish and  American  public. 

We  read  of  the  exploits  and  patriotism  of  Corio- 
lanus  with  admiration ;  and,  but  for  his  subsequent 
defection  and  treason,  should  unhesitatingly  set  him 
down  as  one  of  Rome's  worthiest.  Setting  aside 
that  treason,  was  Caius  Marcius  Coriolanus  a  patriot  ? 
Did  he  fight  and  conquer  for  his  country  ?  Did  he 
love  his  country  at  all  ?  No ;  he  loved  his  own 
order,  the  few  aristocrats  who  kept  the  mass  of 
their  countrymen  in  a  bondage  more  galling  than 
that  of  the  Russian  serf;  who  scorned  their  just 
claims,  and  would  have  trampled  them  into  yet 
more  servile  abjection.  He  was,  excepting  his 
personal  virtues,  valor,  and  military  talent,  the  very 
heau  ideal  of  an  aristocrat ;  a  man  who  would 
rather  deprive  others  of  their  real  rights  than  yield 
a  tittle  of  his  own  fancied  ones ;  who,  the  moment 
he  felt  his  pride  wounded  and  his  consequence 
lessened,  would  have  sacrificed  even  his  own  order, 
who  did  all  they  could  to  defend  him,  on  the  altar 
of  his  selfish  revenge.  He  would  have  laid  Rome 
in  ashes  rather  than  be  the  mere  equal  of  Ro- 
mans. His  was  the  very  spirit  of  Satan  in  Pan- 
demonium, when  he  exclaimed,  — 

"  Better  to  reign  in  hell  than  serve  in  heaven  — 
Evil,  be  thou  my  good  !  " 

Yet  this  man  has  been  held  up  as  a  hero  and  a 
patriot,  by  such  writers  and  orators  as  judge  from 
outside  appearances,  like  the  base  monarch  who 
hugged  his  chains  because  they  were  of  gold. 

Cato  plunged  the  dagger  into  his  vitals,  rather 
than  submit  to  Caesar,  exclaiming, 

"  O  liberty !  O  virtue  !  O  my  country  ! " 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  21 

But  —  did  he  first  emancipate  a  single  one  of  his 
bondsmen  ?  The  mass  of  the  democracy  favored 
the  Roman  Bonaparte,  because  he  bettered  their 
condition.  Cato,  the  incarnation  of  the  aristocracy, 
abhorred  him,  because  he  would  have  reduced  his 
order  to  their  proper  level — that  of  mere  men. 
Cato's  death  was  no  loss  to  the  republic,  whatever 
it  might  have  been  to  the  patricians. 

When  Brutus  and  Cassius  stabbed  Caesar  on  the 
steps  of  the  Capitol,  did  they  strike  for  their  coun- 
try or  their  class  ?  Caesar  had  more  benefited  his 
country  than  the  whole  then  existing  patrician 
order.  But  Brutus  and  Cassius  were  the  "  last  of 
the  Romans."  Would  it  were  even  so  !  Better 
one  able,  useful  despot,  like  Caesar,  than  a  thousand 
Brutuses  and  Cassiuses.  Better  one  absolute  prince 
than  a  hundred  petty  tyrants — bear  witness  the 
oligarchy  of  Venice. 

In  like  manner,  too,  Russian  Poland  rebelled 
(so  scribblers  tell  us)  against  the  Emperor  Nicholas, 
in  1830.  They  do  not  say,  however,  who  rebelled, 
or  why  ;  whether  it  was  the  ever-turbulent  nobility, 
who  had  crushed  the  mass  and  deluged  the  land 
with  blood  for  centuries,  who  revolted,  or  the  down- 
trodden multitude.  They  do  not  inform  us  wheth- 
er the  constitution  granted  them  by  Alexander,  in 
1815,  was  an  improvement  on  the  government,  or 
rather  the  no-government  of  Poland  before  its  par- 
tition ;  or  why  what  satisfied  them  under  Alex- 
ander was  insupportable  under  his  brother  Nicho- 
las. They  do  not  tell  us  whether  the  leaders  of 
the  insurrection  were  nobles,  or  men  of  the  people, 
and  they  leave  us  in  the  dark  as  to  their  ultimate 
designs.  For  all  they  tell  us,  the  revolt  may 
have  been  without  aim  or  object.  It  does  not  ap- 
pear that  Prince  Czartoryski,  or  Prince  Radzivil,  or 


22  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

any  of  the  insurgent  chiefs,  ever  so  much  as  dreamed 
of  "the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number,'* 
any  more  than  Cato  and  the  spurious  patriots 
who  would  not  brook  the  humanizing  dictation  of 
Cassar.  It  is  true,  their  motives  may  have  been 
purely  patriotic ;  but  this  is  left  to  syrnpathizing 
conjecture. 

''  O  Liberty !  how  many  crimes  have  been  per- 
petrated in  thy  name  ! "  exclaimed  the  virtuous 
and  accomplished  Madame  Roland,  just  before  her 
head  rolled  on  the  scaffold.  There  is  magic  in  the 
word.  Monsters  in  human  form  used  it  to  deci- 
mate France  ;  with  the  word  liberty^  Cromwell 
turned  England  from  a  limited  monarchy  into  a 
despotism.  The  word  is  a  good  word,  and  Stephen 
Girard's  name  was  a  good  name ;  but  it  behoves 
us,  when  we  are  called  upon  to  harness  ourselves, 
like  horses  or  asses,  to  cannon  for  the  oppressed 
Poles,  or  to  send  supplies  to  the  suffering  Greeks, 
to  ascertain  whether  the  statue  set  up  by  either  is 
the  oft-violated  virgin  Liberty,  or  a  gilded  idol,  as 
much  as  it  does  the  cashier  oif  a  bank  to  be  sure 
that  Girard's  own  hand  wrote  his  name  on  a  check, 
before  he  honors  it. 

More  keenly,  perhaps,  is  the  word  liberty  felt  by 
an  Englishman  or  an  American,  than  by  any  other 
native  of  the  world.  We  have  had  our  struggles, 
and,  praised  be  God  !  they  have  been  successful ; 
and  any  appeal  to  us,  from  a  people  in  supposed 
like  circumstances,  comes  to  us  with  double  force. 
Tell  us  that  a  people  are  oppressed,  and  we  hurl 
anathemas  at  the  oppressor,  without  stopping  to 
make  the  least  inquiry ;  tell  us  that  any  people 
(provided  they  be  white)  are  struggling  for  free- 
dom, and  our  blood  circulates  with  a  quicker  rush. 
Thus  Andrew  Jackson,  when  he  was  interrupted 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  23 

in  driving  a  chain-gang  of  negroes  through  the 
Choctaw  nation,  wrote  to  the  war  department, 
*•'  Are  we  slaves,  or  are  we  free  men  ?  "  Thus  we 
poured  our  thousands  into  the  territory  of  Mexico, 
to  fight  for  the  liberty  of  Texas  —  the  Uberty  to 
establish  and  perpetuate  slavery  where  it  had  been 
abolished.  Thus  nine  tenths  of  us  are  at  this  mo- 
ment about  to  vote  for  one  or  the  other  of  two  men, 
for  our  President,  who  are  both  known  to  be  favor- 
able to  the  permanence  of  slavery  on  our  own 
shores,  because,  forsooth,  they  are  guessed  to  be 
favorable  to  liberal  government.  As,  in  the  mech- 
anism of  the  animal  body,  there  is  a  great  waste 
of  power,  so  there  is  a  great  waste  of  sympathy  in 
the  human,  and  especially  in  the  American  mind. 

The  wrongs  of  which  our  fathers  complained, 
the  objects  for  which  they  fought,  in  the  revolution, 
were  clearly  defined  and  set  forth  in  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence.  The  world  knows,  now, 
that  our  cause  was  just,  and  rejoices  that  it  tri- 
umphed. It  might  have  known  so  then,  if  there 
had  been  a  disposition  to  inquire  and  examine  ;  but 
neither  we,  nor  the  world  at  large,  know  any  thing 
concerning  the  causes  of  the  revolt  of  the  soi-disant 
patriots  in  Poland,  in  1830,  of  the  condition  of  the 
Russian  nation,  or  of  the  character  and  intentions 
of  the  much-calumniated  and  everywhere-but-in- 
Russia-detested  emperor,  Nicholas  the  First. 

A  dog  will  whine  when  a  plaintive  air  is  played 
on  a  pipe,  and  a  buffalo  will  shut  his  eyes  and  rush 
headlong  at  any  inoffensive  person  in  a  scarlet 
coat.  Just  so,  and  with  as  little  reflection,  when 
the  wrongs  of  Poland  and  the  oppression  of  Russia 
are  mentioned,  our  hearts  and  our  purses  open, 
we  know  not  for  what ;  and  when  we  hear  of 
a  riot  or  a  struggle,  we  pant  to  be  engaged  in  it 


24  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

It  is  thus  that  we  take  the  part  of  a  small  man 
chastised  by  a  big  one,  without  asking  or  caring 
what  insolence  or  provocation  has  merited  the 
flagellation.  It  is  a  holy  feeling  that  prompts  us 
—  pity  it  is.  it  is  so  liable  to  be  abused  ! 

At  the  risk  of  being  ridiculed  and  hated,  we 
avow  that  our  feelings  have  been  enlisted  in  favor 
of  the  Russian  people,  and  of  the  Emperor  Nicho- 
las in  particular,  by  the  simple  fact  that,  like  us, 
the  Russians  have  been  treated  by  the  writers  of 
other  nations  with  rancor  and  obloquy  without 
stint  or  measure,  and  that  the  emperor  is  seldom, 
if  ever,  mentioned  without  reproach.  Reflection 
and  inquiry  have  satisfied  us,  that  by  far  the  great- 
est part  of  this  dislike  is  equally  unfounded  and 
unmerited ;  for  it  is  long  that  we  have  been  con- 
vinced that  America  and  England  do  not  monopo- 
lize all  the  freedom,  all  the  valor,  all  the  learning, 
and  all  the  intelligence,  in  the  universe. 

Two  of  the  causes,  doubtless,  that  lead  to  this 
general  abhorrence  of  Russia,  are  fear  and  envy ;  a 
third  is  distance,  which  magnifies  danger,  just  as  it 


*' lends  enchantment  to  the  view, 

And  robes  the  landscape  with  an  azure  hue." 

Omne  ignotum  pro  magnijico  est: — we  know 
that  Russia  has  swallowed  a  part  of  Poland,  and 
threatens  to  swallow  Turkey  and  Persia  also,  and 
the  learned  folly  of  Europe  fears  that  her  gorge  is 
capacious  enough  for  more,  forgetting  that  Poland 
fell  less  by  Russia's  strength  than  by  its  own  weak- 
ness, and  that  large  bodies  are  slow  of  action.  We 
recollect  the  remark  of  an  Indian  chief,  on  the  power 
of  the  United  States,  on  a  visit  to  the  navy-yard  in 
Brooklyn.  ''You  cannot,"  said  he,  pointing  to 
the  line-of-battle  ships,  "bring  those  guns  to  bear 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  25 

upon  US  in  our  distant  prairies."  In  like  manner, 
the  colossal  power  of  Russia  will  and  must  melt 
*'  like  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision,"  long  before  it 
can  become  dangerous  to  the  civilization  of  Europe. 

Toward  us  and  England,  Russia  must  neces- 
sarily be  forever  impotent  and  innocuous,  till  she 
shall  have  become  a  maritime  power,  which  she 
never  can  be,  with  no  other  practicable  outlets  but 
the  Gattegat  and  the  Dardanelles.  Her  navy,  seen 
at  a  distance,  looks  formidable,  it  is  true,  in  ships, 
men,  and  guns ;  but  approach  it,  and  the  kraken  di- 
minishes to  a  skate  or  flounder.  The  military  marine 
of  Russia  consists  of  fifty  line-of-battle  ships  and 
twenty-five  frigates,  with  fifteen  war-steamers  on  the 
Baltic,  and  seventeen  on  the  Euxine.  These  ships 
are  managed  and  fought  by  fifty  thousand  men, 
who,  as  far  as  courage  goes,  are  not  to  be  surpassed. 
Sir  Edmund  Codrington  did  not  complain  of 
the  Russian  fleet  at  Navarino.  Thirty  thousand 
of  these  men  are  employed  in  the  Baltic,  and  twen- 
ty thousand  in  the  Black  Sea.  But  it  is  one  thing 
to  have  ships  and  men,  and  another  to  have  sailors  ; 
they  cannot  be  made  by  decrees  and  ukases. 

To  have  sailors,  a  country  must  have  ports. 
Russia  has  but  a  few  on  the  Baltic,  (which  are 
locked  up  five  months  in  the  year  by  ice,)  and  but 
one,  of  any  consequence,  ( Sebastopol, )  in  the  Crimea. 
The  service  of  the  Baltic  fleet  consists  of  cruising 
in  the  brackish  water  of  the  Gulf  of  Finland,  be- 
tween Cronstadt,  Riga,  and  Revel,  never  out  of 
sight  of  land.  The  periodical  storms  of  the  Euxine 
interrupt  its  navigation,  also,  for  several  months 
of  the  year ;  and,  were  it  otherwise,  that  sea  aff'ords 
no  more  facilities  for  rearing  sailors  than  our  great 
lakes. 

When  Peter  the  Great  opened  the  Baltic  to  Rus- 
3 


26  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

sia,  and  determined  to  create  a  navy,  he  no  doubt 
expected  that  it  would  be  supported  by  a  com- 
mercial marine  ;  but,  in  this,  he  overlooked  the  lim- 
its that  Nature  herself  had  put  to  the  commerce  of 
Russia.  Ships  can  be  built  any  where,  where  there 
is  wood ;  but  seamen  can  only  be  formed  by  coun- 
tries with  such  coasts  as  those  of  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States.  There  is,  consequently, 
not  a  really  Russian  mariner  to  be  found  in  the 
Baltic  on  board  a  merchantman.  It  is  true  that 
the  laws  of  Russia  require  every  Russian  vessel  to 
have  a  nominal  Russian  master,  who  is  often  a 
peasant,  sleeps  in  the  forecastle,  and  acts  as  cook, 
while  the  chief  mate,  a  Finn  or  a  foreigner,  works 
the  ship. 

The  only  part  of  the  Russian  naval  force,  who 
have  any  claim  to  be  called  seamen,  are  about 
twenty  thousand  Finns,  and  a  few  Greeks  and  for- 
eigners. Over  and  above  these,  the  navy  is  re- 
cruited exactly  like  the  army,  and  from  the  same 
sources.  The  whole,  being  confined  to  their  har- 
bors for  half  the  year,  are  necessarily  employed  and 
equipped  as  half-sailors,  half-soldiers  ;  and,  when  at 
sea,  few  of  them  ever  get  thoroughly  over  their 
sea-sickness. 

No  country  beyond  sea,  therefore,  has  aught 
to  fear  from  the  ambition  of  Russia.  We  could  fill 
a  volume  with  matter  of  fact  confirmatory  of  the 
position  we  have  taken  in  this  regard  ;  but  it  needs 
not.  As  men  cannot  train  for  gymnastic  games  in 
shackles,  so  neither  can  they  learn  to  swim  or  be- 
come mariners  without  water,  and  Russia  never  can 
become  formidable  at  sea.  Talents  cannot  effect 
impossibilities.  Napoleon  could  not  form  seamen 
in  France  ;  Peter  could  not,  and  Nicholas  cannot, 
do  it  in  Russia.     They  have  done  all  that  mere 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  27 

men  could  do,  and  the  wonder  is,  not  that  they 
have  done  so  little,  but  that  they  have  accom- 
plished so  much.  In  another  view  of  the  case,  it 
will  be  found  that  neither  Russia,  nor  France,  nor 
we,  have  done  half  enough  for  our  own  defence. 

The  invention  of  shell  shot,  and  the  application 
of  steam  to  the  navigation  of  the  ocean,  have  be- 
gun, and  are  destined  to  achieve,  an  entire  revol- 
ution in  marine  warfare,  and  in  the  attack  and 
defence  of  seaboards.  The  invention  of  gunpow- 
der was  not  fated  to  effect  more  important  changes. 
Without  entering  into  a  labored  argument,  let  us 
consider  a  few  facts,  and  then  judge  of  the  future 
by  the  past. 

A  few  French  ships  battered  down  the  castle  of 
St.  Juan  de  Ulloa,  (deemed  impregnable  before,) 
with  Paixhan  shot,  in  four  hours,  though  gallantly 
defended  ;  and  reduced  Santa  Anna  and  Mexico  to 
submission. 

St.  Jean  d'Acre  was  laid  in  ruins  by  the  com- 
bined fleets  of  England,  France,  and  Russia,  in 
fewer  hours  than  it  cost  Napoleon  and  his  Egyp- 
tian army  weeks  ;  and  the  slaughter  on  the  side  of 
Mehemet  Ali  was  prodigious. 

Beyroot  was  treated  in  the  same  way  by  the 
allied  fleet ;  not  a  tenth  of  the  city  remained 
standing,  nor  were  a  third  of  its  defenders  left 
alive. 

Of  what  avail  were  the  swarming  numbers,  the 
devoted  courage,  and  the  strong  fortifications  of 
the  Chinese  against  steam  and  shell-shot  at  Amoy, 
the  Bogue,  and  elsewhere  ?  What,  but  to  glut 
death,  and  to  add  to  human  misery  ! 

And  what  is  to  insure  Russia  against  the  like 
treatment,  but  timely  preparation  to  meet  force 
with  force,  and  navy  with  navy  ?     Surely,  not  the 


28  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

justice  or  moderation  of  Great  Britain.  Did  justice, 
and  the  laws  of  nations  and  of  honor,  protect  Co- 
penhagen? VYhat,  in  the  event  of  a  war  with 
England,  will  save  Cronstadt,  Riga,  Revel,  Baltis- 
port,  Nicolaiew,  Sebastopol,  Odessa,  and  St.  Pe- 
tersburg itself,  from  the  fate  of  Beyroot  and  Amoy, 
but  a  navy  adequate  to  the  emergency  ?  That  it 
will  not  be  their  fortifications,  is  as  clear  as  that  the 
shell  of  a  filbert  cannot  protect  the  kernel  from  the 
hammer.  Nor  is  such  a  contingency  at  all  im- 
probable. The  writers  of  the  Polish  Propaganda 
are  already  exciting  the  cupidity  of  the  British 
people  in  the  British  periodicals,  and  demonstrating 
the  certainty  of  their  success  in  a  maritime  war 
with  Russia. 

What  shall  save  Boston  and  New  York,  and  our 
whole  seaboard,  from  the  same  fearful  doom,  if  — 
which  may  God  in  his  goodness  avert !  —  the  advo- 
cates of  Texas  and  slavery  should  succeed  in  pick- 
ing a  quarrel  with  Great  Britain?  In  our  unpro- 
voked hatred  of  Mexico,  our  absurd  sympathy  with 
Poland,  and  our  equally  unfounded  dislike  of  Nich- 
olas and  Russia,  we  overlook  the  real  point  of  dan- 
ger, though  millions  cry  to  us,  from  their  graves  in 
India  and  China,  to  take  warning.  England,  not 
Russia,  is  the  enemy  the  world  has  to  dread ;  Eng- 
land, on  whose  territory  the  sun  never  sets,  whose 
canvass  whitens  every  wave,  whose  resources  are 
the  purse  of  Fortunatus  tmd  the  lamp  of  Aladdin  ; 
England,  whose  caoutchouc  national  conscience  is 
matched  with  the  greed  of  the  horseleech,  which 
crieth,  "  Not  enough  !  "  and  for  whose  ready  grasp 
and  capacious  gorge  a  continent  is  not  too  great, 
or  a  minnow  too  little. 

If  the  reader  can  lay  prejudice  and  sympathy  on 
the  shelf  for  five  minutes,  we  shall  assuredly  satis- 


THE    EMPEROR   NICHOLAS. 


29 


fy  hitn  that  we  are  not  speaking  the  exaggerated 
language  of  poetry,  but  the  words  of  truth  and  so- 
berness.    Here  are  facts  :  deny  them  who  can. 

The  navy  of  Great  Britain  numbers  a  hundred 
and  twenty  sail  of  the  line,  and  a  hundred  and  for- 
ty frigates,  with  the  memis  of  mangling  them^  not 
to  speak  of  what  is  of  more  importance  —  between 
two  and  three  hundred  war-steamers.  The  united 
world  besides,  in  1840,  could  muster  but  a  hundred 
and  seventy-five  line-of-battle  ships,  and  a  hundred 
and  ninety-five  frigates. 

Of  this  latter  force,  at  the  same  time,  France, 
Russia,  and  the  United  States,  had,  collectively,  but 
a  hundred  and  twenty  sail  of  the  line,  and  a  hun- 
dred and  seventeen  frigates  —  and  how  manned  ? 

They  had,  collectively,  a  mercantile  marine 
not  exceeding  1,700,000  tons  afloat  on  salt  water. 
These,  and  their  navies,  were  manned  with  two 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men.  Together 
with  her  fishermen,  and  crews  of  vessels  of  under 
thirty  tons,  Britain  has  three  hundred  and  seventy 
thousand  sailors.  Moreover,  she  can  at  any  time 
send  to  sea  four  times  as  many  war-steamers  as  the 
combined  world  ;  and  she  alone,  among  nations,  has 
the  funds  to  furnish  forth  such  armadas. 

The  whole  number  of  people  France,  Russia, 
and  the  United  States,  employ  in  aquatic  pursuits, 
does  not  exceed  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand 
men. 

The  registered  tonnage  of  the  United  States,  on 
salt  water,  is  1,000,000  of  tons,  and  employs  about 
eighty  thousand  men,  of  all  nations.  Moreover, 
we  have  but  four  war-steamers,  of  which  one  is 
literally  good  for  nothing,  and  almost  our  entire 
sea-coast  is  without  defence. 

If,  therefore,  we  should  save  our  ignorant  sym- 
3* 


30  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

pathy  with  Poland,  and  leave  off  bewailing  the 
miseries  of  slavery  and  despotism  in  Russia,  —  if, 
instead  thereof,  we  should  follow  the  wise  and  pa- 
triotic example  of  the  detested  despot,  Nicholas,  in 
preparing  for  the  contest  we  are  insanely  trying  to 
provoke,  and  which  will  assuredly  be  forced  on 
him  and  us,  v/henever  it  shall  seem  profitable  to 
British  cupidity,  —  we  should  show  less  spurious 
zeal  for  freedom,  indeed,  but  we  should  also  evince 
a  little  common  sense,  and  some  consistency. 

These  will  be  unpalatable  truths  to  the  conceit 
and  arrogance  of  mobs,  revolting  to  the  ignorance 
that  must  largely  abound  among  a  people  in  a  state 
of  transition,  like  ourselves  and  Russia ;  for  igno- 
rance is  the  concomitant  of  mobs,  as  well  as  of  a 
despotism.  We  regret  that  wars  may  arise  to  re- 
tard the  improvement  and  prosperity  either  of  the 
United  States  or  Russia.  But  it  is  not  by  fostering 
prejudice,  or  by  concealing  the  truth,  that  the  spread 
of  liberal  principles  is  to  be  promoted  ;  and  the  first 
step  toward  the  knowledge  of  others  is  to  know 
ourselves.  The  more  severe  our  self-examination, 
the  more  certain  is  our  amendment,  and  we  will 
not  shun  to  tell  the  sick  their  danger,  because  the 
medicine  is  bitter. 

We  have  said  that  Russia  is  an  object  of  envy,  as 
well  as  of  fear,  to  the  rest  of  Europe.  The  armies 
of  France  have  found  their  graves  in  her  soil ;  her 
arms  have  been  felt  in  every  part  of  Europe  but 
Great  Britain.  Is  not  this  enough  to  make  her  an 
object  of  fear  ?  Power  is  terrible.  What  nation 
has  more  of  it  than  Russia  ?  and,  if  population  and 
wealth  are  power,  Nicholas  the  First  has  sixty- 
one  millions  of  subjects,  of  whom  upwards  of 
twenty-two  millions  are  liable  to  military  service ; 
a  standing  army  of  more  than  a  million;  and  a 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  31 

yearly  revenue  of  fifty-five  millions  of  dollars,  at 
least ;  probably  more. 

To  be  convinced  that  there  are  many  things  in 
barbarous  Russia  to  be  envied  by  civilized  Chris- 
tendom, let  the  reader  turn  to  the  pages  of  Khol, 
of  any  of  the  encyclopedias,  or  to  any  work  what- 
ever on  the  empire. 

*'  Strike,  but  hear !  "  is  the  legend  of  a  lecture 
addressed  to  the  members  of  our  several  state  legis- 
latures, on  the  affairs  of  Poland,  by  Major  G.  Toch- 
man,  a  Polish  exile,  and,  probably,  one  of  the  Polish 
Propaganda.  Albeit  no  one  in  this  country,  we 
believe,  is  at  all  disposed  to  strike  a  blow  in  Po- 
land, unless  in  her  aid,  we  fully  admit  the  justice 
and  force  of  the  appeal.  If  Poland  has  not  already 
had  hearings  enough,  let  her  have  more. 

Strike  Russia,  and  the  Emperor  Nicholas,  too,  as 
hard  as  feeling  and  opinion  can  strike  ;  but,  in  im- 
partial justice,  first  hear  what  can  be  said  in  their 
defence. 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  now  established  in  Eng- 
land and  France  a  Propaganda,  or  missionary  semina- 
ry, at  the  head  of  which  is  Prince  Adam  Czartoryski, 
president  of  the  provisional  government  of  Poland 
in  1830  and  1831,  who  was  condemned  to  death 
by  the  imperial  ukase,  in  September,  1834,  for  the 
part  he  took  in  the  insurrection.  Prince  Adam  was 
the  longest-descended,  the  richest,  the  most  talent- 
ed and  the  most  influential  man  in  Poland  previous 
to  that  event.  He  it  is  whom  the  Propaganda  ex- 
pect, and  avowedly  intend,  to  place  on  the  throne 
of  Poland,  should  she  ever  recover  her  independ- 
ence.* His  lady  is  at  the  head  of  the  female 
Propaganda,  consisting  of  French  and  English  wo- 
men, whose  object  it  is,  as  of  the  male  branch,  to 

*  Tochraan. 


32  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

educate  the  children  not  only  of  Poles,  but  also  of 
other  people,  in  hatred  of  Russia.  These  are  the 
political  Jesuits,  who  maintain  and  send  writers  and 
lecturers  to  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  to  dissem- 
inate their  views  and  opinions.  The  inferior  mem- 
bers of  the  Propaganda  are  exiled  Poles  and  their 
sympathizers ;  and  it  is  of  his  would-be  majesty, 
King  Adam,  and  his  subjects,  that  we  receive  our 
political  opinions  in  regard  to  Russia  and  Poland. 
They  have  one  college  in  England,  and  another  in 
France,  where  Polish  patriotism  and  politics,  and 
English,  French,  and  the  Polish  dialect  of  the 
Sclavonian,  are  taught  together. 

AVhile  we  admire  the  heroic  bravery  displayed 
by  the  insurgent  Poles  in  the  late  struggle  with 
Russia,  as  much  as  any  one  can  ;  while  we  compas- 
sionate the  misfortunes  of  such  of  them  as  are  ex- 
iles from  their  native  land ;  we  take  the  liberty  to 
say,  that  they  have  not  made  any  very  favorable  im- 
pression of  their  general  character  on  the  people  of 
France  and  the  United  States ;  *  and  that  they  are 
not  the  most  unexceptionable  referees  that  can  be 
found  with  regard  to  facts  or  doctrine.  Neverthe- 
less, such  has  been  the  effect  of  their  labors,  that 
the  Propaganda  confidently  expect  to  excite  an- 
other rebellion  in  Poland  within  eighteen  months 

*  "  Men  pretended  to  regard  the  Poles  as  allies  of  the  republi- 
can party,  Tin  1833-34,)  without  considering  that  Poland  was  a  re- 
publican aristocracy.  Next,  certain  classes  treated  the  Poles,  who 
had  been  deified  a  few  days  before,  with  disdain.  "We  must  forci- 
bly recall  the  shifts  of  Parisian  opinion,  to  understand  how  the 
word  Polish  became  a  term  of  derision  in  1835,  in  the  centre  of  in- 
telligence —  in  a  city  that  now  wields  tlie  sceptre  of  literature  and 
the  arts.  There  are,  alas  !  two  orders  of  Polish  refugees  —  the  re- 
publican Pole,  the  descendant  of  Lelewel,  and  the  Polish  noble,  of 
the  party  of  which  Prince  Czartoryski  is  the  head.  Without  in- 
tending offence  to  the  exiles,  I  must  be  allowed  to  remark  that  tlie 
levity,  needlessness,  and  inconsistency,  of  the  Sarmatian  character, 
gave  color  to  the  scandal  of  the  Parisians."  —  Balzac. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS. 


33 


from  the  present  date.  This  we  have  on  the  au- 
thority of  one  of  the  patriotic  missionaries,  and  of 
this  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  the  Emperor  Nicholas 
is  ignorant.  Hence  the  increased  vigilance  of  the 
Russian  government,  and  the  difficuUy  of  obtaining 
passports,  so  generally  quoted  in  the  newspapers  as 
illustrations  of  arbitrary  rule. 

Hear,  too,  what  was  said  by  one  of  the  Russian 
secretaries  of  the  state,  and  head  of  the  third  section 
of  the  Chancery,  to  Leitch  Ritchie. 

''  It  seems  strange  to  me,  that  you  English  should 
travel  in  Russia  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  making 
yourselves  acquainted  with  the  manners  and  char- 
acter of  the  people,  yet  without  comprehending  a 
single  word  of  their  language.  You  come  here 
with  the  grossest  prejudices  against  us  as  a  nation. 
You  see  every  thing  diiferent  from  what  you  have 
been  accustomed  to  at  home,  except  the  manners 
of  some  dozen  families  whom  you  visit.  You 
make  no  inquiries,  no  reflections,  no  allowances. 
You  examine  this  rude  but  mighty  colossus, 
through  your  opera  glass,  or  from  the  windows  of 
your  travelling  chariot.  In  the  towns,  your  valet 
de  place  IS  your  prime  authority;  in  the  country, 
you  wander  about  in  utter  darkness,  unable  to  un- 
derstand a  single  object,  or  to  understand  a  sin- 
gle question.  You  then  return  home,  satisfied 
with  having  attained  the  object  of  your  tour,  and 
sit  down,  without  a  single  malevolent  feeling  in 
your  breasts,  but  out  of  pure  ignorance,  to  add  to 
the  mass  of  falsehoods  and  absurdities  with  which 
Europe  is  already  inundated." 

It  seems,  by  this,  that  John  Bull  will  be  John 
Bull,  wherever  he  goes. 

To  conclude,  the  empire  of  Russia  is  an  anom- 
aly among   nations,    and   is   therefore    not   to  be 


34  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

judged  by  any  ordinary  rules.  Neither  can  any 
national  character  properly  be  said  to  belong  to  a 
population  consisting  of  nine  distinct  races  —  with- 
out counting  other  foreign  tribes,  collectively  nu- 
merous enough  to  form  no  insignificant  kingdom. 
The  emperor  of  Russia  stands  alone  among  mon- 
archs,  past  and  present :  he  is  absolute  power  per- 
sonified, without  check  or  limitation,  bther  than 
the  laws  of  Nature  herself  impose  ;  and  this  abso- 
lute power  he  did  not  achieve,  like  Napoleon,  at 
the  expense  of  millions  of  lives,  but  was  born  to. 
If  his  power  has  not  the  extent  the  Corsican  con- 
queror's at  one  time  had,  it  is,  in  recompense,  far 
more  perfect  where  it  is  acknowledged.  No  hered- 
itary monarch  or  usurper,  of  times  past,  ever  enjoyed 
the  like.  He  is  checked  by  no  institutions,  no 
laws ;  the  land,  and  all  that  therein  is,  is  his  in  fee 
simple :  he  is  undisputed  lord  and  master  of  the 
lives,  the  liberties,  and  the  property,  of  many  mil- 
lions, from  his  richest  noble  to  that  noble's  meanest 
serf.  Other  emperors  may  have  had  command  of 
greater  wealth  and  numbers  ;  but  never  was  any 
other  ruler  in  himself  such  a  concentration  of  all  hu- 
man authority ;  never  was  any  man  so  completely, 
and  at  once,  the  king,  the  religion,  and  the  fate,  of 
his  subjects.  Now,  it  is  an  admitted  and  incontest- 
able fact,  that  absolute  monarchy  would  be  the  best 
of  all  possible  governments,  could  it  be  placed,  and 
always  continue,  in  good  hands.  The  Emperor 
Nicholas,  therefore,  is  not  to  be  abhorred  for  being, 
like  all  other  men,  the  child  of  circumstances,  which 
have  placed  him  where  he  is,  as  they  have  placed 
others  in  degradation  and  bondage :  he  is  only 
accountable  to  opinion  for  the  use  he  has  made  of 
his  power,  and  we  do  not  fear  to  subject  his  char- 
acter and  actions  to  that  test.     If  it  shall  appear  that 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  35 

he  has  abused  his  power,  and  injured  the  condition 
of  his  subjects,  let  him  be  condemned  accordingly ; 
but  if,  on  the  contrary,  it  shall  prove  that  he  has 
acted  ably,  wisely,  and  conscientiously,  for  the 
greater  good  of  the  greater  number,  we  claim  for 
him  the  highest  name  and  the  greenest  wreath 
among  the  great  and  good  men  of  the  age.  All 
the  favor  we  ask  for  the  Russian  monarch  is,  that 
the  reader,  in  judging  of  him,  will  bear  in  mind 
that  Nicholas  the  First,  with  all  his  power,  is  but 
a  man,  with  the  same  feelings  and  passions  as  other 
men. 


36  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 


CHAPTER   II. 

ABSOLUTE  POWER  NOT  NECESSARILY  A  CURSE.— 
PETER  ALEXIOWITSCH. 

We  take  it  for  granted  that  the  great  mass  of 
the  reading  public,  in  Europe  and  America,  are 
nearly  as  ignorant  of  the  social  and  political  con- 
dition of  Poland  and  the  Russias,  as  they  are  of 
the  interior  of  New  Holland  and  Japan.  How- 
should  it  be  otherwise,  when  all  the  information 
we  have  is  derived  from  superficial  observers,  who 
may,  indeed,  describe  the  manners  and  outside  of 
a  nation,  but  are  wholly  unable  to  look  deeper? 
Why  is  it  tourists  never  speak  truly  of  us  ?  Be- 
cause they  can  only  see  effects,  while  causes  are 
hidden  from  them;  because  they  judge  of  the 
whole  from  a  part,  as  the  Irish  laborer  formed  his 
opinion  of  the  house  from  a  brick  shown  him  as  a 
specimen ;  because  the  first  things  they  remark  are 
exceptions,  and  because  they  convert  the  exception 
into  the  general  rule.  We  maintain  that  a  travel- 
ler, or  historian,  who  writes  of  a  foreign  country, 
should  have,  at  least,  these  qualifications  :  — 

Candor,  if  not  kindness,  and  some  respect  for, 
if  not  a  love  of,  truth. 

He  should  have  eyes  to  see,  and  ears  to  hear ; 
and  yet,  these  will  be  of  little  use  to  him,  if  he  has 
not  brains  to  understand  ;  for  it  does  not  suffice  to 
tell  how  a  people  are  clad,  or  what  they  eat  and 
what  they  drink ;  nor  is  it  of  much  importance  to 
describe  places,  and  record  distances  and  dimen- 
sions. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  37 

He  should  be  able  to  speak,  or  at  least  to  read 
and  understand,  the  language  of  the  country. 

He  should  be  a  little  acquainted  with  the  leading 
points,  at  least,  of  its  history,  laws,  and  institu- 
tions. 

He  should  have  lived  at  least  ten  years  in  it, 
and  conversed  familiarly  with  all  its  classes,  be- 
fore he  presumes  to  pronounce,  ex  cathedra^  on  any 
thing. 

We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  nothing  useful,  or 
worthy  of  reliance,  has  been  written  concerning 
Russia ;  but  we  mean  to  assume  that  such  matter 
is  diffused  so  sparsely,  through  so  many  volumes, 
in  so  many  languages,  that  no  ordinary  reader  can 
be  expected  to  have  made  himself  master  of  it  all. 
For  example  — 

Ninety-nine  men  in  a  hundred  believe,  and  will 
maintain,  that  the  regeneration  of  Russia  was  an 
original  idea  of  Peter  the  First,  justly  surnamed  the 
Great,  and  that  it  began  with  him.  They  have 
never  heard  of  Ivan  Vassilievitsch ;  it  is  a  chance 
if  they  are  aware  that  Peter  had  a  father,  or  that 
that  father's  name  was  Alexis.  They  do  not  know 
that  the  Russians  were  sufficiently  civiHzed  to 
build  the  important  cities  of  Novogorod  and  Kiow 
in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries. 

Fear  not,  reader :  we  are  not  going  to  give  you 
a  history  of  Russia ;  but  some  historical  details  are 
absolutely  necessary. 

Ivan  Vassilievitsch  the  Great  reigned  from  1462 
to  1505.  With  him  properly  began  the  civiliza- 
tion of  Russia,  and  in  his  reign  it  assumed  a  name 
and  a  rank  among  nations.  He  it  was  who  freed 
Russia  from  the  Tartar  yoke  under  which  it  had 
groaned  for  two  centuries  and  a  half.  Ivan  made 
the  indivisibility  of  the  realm  a  fundamental  law, 
4 


38 


VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 


after  adding  to  it  Kasan^  and  Tver,  and  Astrachan. 
He  first  introduced  fire-arms,  and  cast  cannon,  and 
taught  his  Scythians  to  burn  bricks,  and  to  build. 
He  set  the  example  of  inviting  foreigners  to  Mos- 
cow, and  making  use  of  their  superior  knowledge. 
German  artists  and  savans  went  to  receive  the  pro- 
tection and  encouragement  of  his  son,  the  second 
Ivan,  and  by  him  was  a  printing-press  first  estab- 
lished, which  was  preached  against  by  the  clergy 
as  necromantic,  and  destroyed  with  fire  at  their 
instigation.  He  made  a  commercial  treaty  with 
Elizabeth  of  England,  and  established  a  standing 
army.  In  his  reign,  Siberia  was  discovered  —  to 
be  added  to  Russia  by  his  successor. 

To  Alexis,  the  father  of  Peter  the  Great,  Russia 
owes  the  establishment  of  the  highest  posts  in  the 
empire,  and  the  first  abasement  of  the  clergy. 

Feodor,  his  son  and  successor,  also  did  much*  to 
encourage  industry,  and  improve  the  commerce, 
organization,  and  legislation,  of  Russia.  Till  his 
reign,  the  nobility  claimed  the  highest  posts  of  the 
empire,  by  prescriptive  right.  Feodor  put  an  end 
to  their  claims,  by  burning  their  pedigrees. 

It  will  be  seen,  by  what  has  been  stated,  that 
the  civilization  of  Russia  was  not  created,  or  be- 
gun, by  Peter;  but  has  been  slowly  progressive 
from  the  fifteenth  century.  We  do  not  detract 
from  the  glorious  fame  of  Peter  in  so  saying. 
Shakspeare  wrought  not  always  with  his  own 
materials;  but  he  made  the  materials  of  others  his 
own,  by  his  fashioning.  So  the  mighty  genius 
of  Peter  strode  over  centuries  at  a  step.  Needs 
not  to  dwell  on  the  ail-but  miracles  he  wrought 
by  his  iron  will — are  they  not  recorded  by  the 
immortal  pen  of  Voltaire?  would  not  the  reading  of 
half  the  volumes  already  written  in  commemora- 
♦Jnn  of  them  exhaust  the  life  of  Methuselah? 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  39 

Every  reproach  that  has  been  heaped  upon  the 
Emperor  Nicholas  will  apply  to  Peter,  of  ever- 
glorious  memory,  with  tenfold  force,  with  two 
exceptions.  Peter's  personal  character  was  not  im- 
peccable ;  though  his  faults  were  the  faults  of  his 
age  —  that  of  Nicholas  is  above  reproach.  Peter, 
who  could  so  ably  rule  others,  could  never  rule 
himself —  he  was  a  barbarian ;  a  wonderful  one, 
indeed,  but  still  a  barbarian.  Nicholas  is  a  gen- 
tleman, in  every  sense  of  the  word. 

Thus  speaks  Leitch  Ritchie  (a  Scotchman)  of 
the  much  abused  autocrat:  — 

"  The  emperor,  who  is  a  very  tall  and  very 
handsome  man,  is  naturally  of  a  very  lively 
disposition.  He  is  always  dressed  with  great  pre- 
cision, and  every  one  understands  that  it  is  neces- 
sary to  appear  before  him  both  well  dressed  and 
with  a  cheerful  countenance.  He  is  easy  of  ac- 
cess, and  seems  to  think  an  appearance  of  state 
almost  unnecessary.  At  St.  Petersburg,  however, 
at  each  side  of  the  door  which  leads  to  the  impe- 
rial apartments,  stands  a  man  gorgeously  dressed 
in  Eastern  costume.  There  are  twelve  of  these 
men,  who  relieve  each  other  alternately  in  the 
duty  of  opening  and  shutting  the  door,  and  an- 
nouncing the  name  of  the  visitor. 

"After  breakfast,  the  emperor's  first  care  is  to 
go  to  the  nursery  to  see  his  children,  and  ascertain 
how  they  have  slept.  He  takes  each  of  them  up, 
kisses  them,  romps  with  them ;  for  he  is  full  of 
frolic,  and  glad  to  be  a  boy  again  when  the  cares 
of  the  world  will  let  him. 

"Their  majesties  dine  at  three  o'clock,  (the 
general  hour  for  the  upper  classes  in  Russia,)  with 
great  simplicity ;  and  toward  the  conclusion  of  the 
meal,  the  Grand  Duke  Alexander  and  the  younger 


40  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

children  come  in  to  kiss  their  parents.  When  they 
rise  from  table,  the  emperor  bestows  upon  his 
consort,  also,  some  hearty  kisses.  He  calls  her 
"  his  wife ; "  but  the  empress,  who  is  a  Prussian, 
never  alludes  to  him  but  as  ''  the  emperor."  She 
speaks  English  extremely  well ;  but  Nicholas  only 
indifferently. 

"  *  The  character  of  the  emperor  and  empress,' 
writes  an  English  friend,  to  me,  '  is  such,  that  it 
is  difficult  to  speak  of  them  without  exciting  in 
strangers  a  suspicion  that  the  description  is  over- 
charged. It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  I  never 
saw  a  family  where  more  affection  and  harmony 
existed ;  and  I  believe  the  examples  to  be  very 
rare,  indeed,  where  so  much  can  be  discovered. 
I  have  frequently  seen  these  illustrious  individuals 
surrounded  by  their  children,  and  have  partaken 
of  the  influence  every  one  receives  who  witnesses 
the  scene ;  and  I  can  say  that,  in  their  domestic 
virtues,  they  are  worthy  of  being  held  forth  as  a 
pattern,  not  only  to  all  sovereigns,  but  to  all  man- 
kind.' " 

The  great  charge  against  Nicholas,  as  against 
Peter,  is,  that  he  is  a  despot ;  i.  e.,  the  one  pos- 
sessed, as  the  other  possesses,  arbitrary  power. 
Let  us  see  how  Peter  employed  it. 

In  16S9,  the  Russians  were  Scythians ;  that  is 
to  say,  savages,  or  not  very  far  from  it.  Peter,  by 
main  force,  made  them  civilized  men.  Having  no 
seaports  on  the  Black  Sea,  the  Baltic,  or  any  where 
else,  excepting  Archangel,  amidst  almost  eternal 
ice,  —  Russia  had  no  commerce,  and  was,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  a  part  of  Asia.  By  acquiring 
the  present  Russian  coasts  of  the  Baltic,  by  build- 
ing a  maritime  capital  and  creating  a  navy,  Peter 
brought  his  country  into  the  European  family  of 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS. 


41 


nations.  It  is  true,  that  all  this  was  not  done 
without  much  violation  of  individual  right,  with- 
out much  hardship,  or  without  a  great  sacrifice 
of  life. 

So  there  is  much  hardship,  and  much  invasion 
of  private  right,  in  manning  the  British  navy,  the 
mighty  national  weapon  of  defence  and  offence  to 
which,  probably,  Britain  owes  her  very  existence, 
and  certainly  the  great  rank  she  holds  among  na- 
tions. There  was  a  great  waste  of  British  life  at 
Trafalgar  and  Aboukir  Bay.  But  what  have  been 
her  loss  and  her  suffering  to  her  gain  ?  and  what 
were  the  few  thousands  sacrificed  by  Peter  to  the 
millions  remaining  ?  He  had  a  power  more  like  a 
god's  than  a  mere  mortal's,  and  like  a  god  he 
used  it.  As  the  storm,  and  the  earthquake,  and 
the  volcano,  though  they  destroy  individuals,  ben- 
efit the  mass,  so  Peter's  violent  measures  wrought 
the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number ;  the  evil 
he  did  has  passed  away ;  the  good  remains ;  — 
a  world  admires,  and  sixty-one  grateful  millions 
bless  his  name.  As  the  car  of  destiny  rolls  on, 
the  individuals,  and  thousands,  and  generations  it 
crushes  in  its  course  are  but  items  in  the  account 
of  general  change  to  be  accomplished.  Poetical 
justice  is,  indeed,  a  pretty  thing  to  talk  about ; 
but,  in  the  affairs  of  nations,  it  is  a  thing  that 
never  has  had,  and  never  will  have  an  existence. 

The  Strelitzes,  or  standing  army  of  Russia,  con- 
spired and  revolted  again  and  again,  without  any 
reasonable  pretext.  Peter  subdued  them,  and  be- 
headed and  broke  on  the  wheel  princes,  generals, 
and  prelates,  involved  in  their  guilt.  On  the  third 
occasion,  he  quenched  their  rebellion  in  their  blood, 
which  he  did  not  scruple  to  shed  with  his  own 

hand :  upwards  of  two  thousand  of  the  conspira- 
4* 


42  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

tors  were  executed ;  and,  as  this  happened  in  mid- 
winter, their  frozen  corpses  remained  where  they 
had  suffered  till  warm  weather,  —  with  their  crimes 
written  over  their  heads.  Their  houses  were  razed 
to  the  ground,  and  their  very  name  aboHshed  ;  while 
those  who  were  spared  were  banished  to  Siberia, 
with  their  wives  and  families. 

Who  doubts  that,  acting  thus  rigorously,  Peter 
also  acted  with  humanity?  For  every  turbulent 
rebel  who  died,  Russia  counted  one  malefactor  the 
less ;  for  every  malefactor  he  slew,  he  saved,  in 
consequence,  the  lives  of  two  valuable  subjects. 
Those  only  who  object  to  the  gallows  for  crim- 
inals, and  ball  cartridges  for  mobs,  will  blame  Pe- 
ter for  destroying  the  Strelitzes,  or  Mahmoud  for 
exterminating  the  Janizaries. 

In  the  year  A.  D.  1700,  in  the  art  of  war, 
Russia  was  beneath  criticism, — beneath  contempt ; 
it  was,  then,  what  China  is  now.  In  November  of 
that  year,  Charles  XII.,  of  Sweden,  defeated  thirty- 
eight  thousand  Russians,  and  took  twenty  thousand 
prisoners,  with  eight  thousand  Swedes,  at  Narva. 
Such  was  the  universal  ignorance,  then,  in  Russia, 
of  church  and  lay,  that  the  defeat  was  every  where 
attributed  to  sorcery,  and  prayers  were  put  up  to 
Saint  Nicholas,  in  all  the  churches,  against  the 
Swedes.*     Peter,  alone,  was  not  in  the  least  dis- 

*  "  O  thou,  our  constant  comforter  in  all  our  adversities,  great 
Saint  Nicholas  !  infinitely  powerful !  how  is  it  that  we  have  sinned 
against  thee  in  our  sacrifices,  our  genuflections,  our  salutations,  or 
our  thanksgivings,  that  thou  shouldst  thus  have  forsaken  us  ?  We 
implored  thine  aid  against  these  terrible,  insolenf,  frantic,  frightful, 
untamable  destroyers,  when,  like  lions,  and  like  bears  robbed  of 
their  cubs,  they  attacked,  and  made  us  afraid,  and  wounded,  and 
slew  us  by  thousands ;  we,  thy  people.  As  this  cannot  have  come 
to  pass  without  witchcraft  and  cncliantmcnt,  we  entreat  thee,  O 
mighty  Saint  Nicholas !  to  be  our  champion  and  standard-bearer, 
and  to  deliver  us  from  this  host  of  sorcerers,  and  to  drive  them  far, 
Cut  from  our  borders,  with  the  reward  that  is  due  to  them !  " 

Voltaire,  Histoire  de  Charles  XIL 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  48 

couraged.  "I  know,"  said  he,  "that  the  Swedes 
will  beat  us  again  and  again  ;  but  they  will  teach 
us  to  fight,  and  our  turn  will  come  at  last." 

And  the  Russians  were  beaten  again  and  again, 
and  thousands  of  lives  were  lost,  and  still  they  kept 
learning ;  and  what  have  been  the  consequences  ? 

Nine  years  after  the  disastrous  day  of  Narva, 
Peter,  with  nearly  equal  numbers,  defeated  Charles, 
at  whose  name  all  Europe  trembled,  at  Pultowa, 
destroyed  his  army,  and  forced  him  to  fly  for  refuge 
into  Turkey.  Russia  has  preserved  the  integrity 
of  her  territory  ever  since  ;  has  baffled  even  the 
power  and  genius  of  Napoleon ;  millions  of  lives 
have  been  saved,  that  would  otherwise  have  been 
lost ;  and  Russia  is  the  first  military  power  in  the 
world. 

Would  that  China  had  been  governed  by  a 
Peter,  within  the  last  ten  years !  Then  might  the 
Chinese,  and  the  English,  too,  have  learned  a  like 
lesson,  and,  ultimately,  might  would  not  have  over- 
come right. 

Here  an  absolute  monarch  was  a  Messiah.  Under 
any  other  form  of  government,  or  under  a  less  able 
czar  than  Peter,  Russia  would  have  disappeared, 
as  a  nation,  from  the  map  of  Europe,  as  Poland 
has  done. 

The  question  here  arises,  whether  Peter  was  a 
patriot,  or  not ;  whether  he  was  actuated,  in  the 
great  things  he  did,  by  love  of  country,  or  by  the 
selfishness  of  an  individual,  who,  possessing  an  em- 
pire in  fee  simple,  merely  aimed  at  enlarging  and 
improving  his  property.  Was  he  an  imperial 
William  Tell,  or  Washington,  or  an  aristocratic 
patriot,  like  the  cut-throat  conspirators  of  Rome, 
before  Christ  ? 

When,   in    1711,   Peter  was  surrounded  by  the 


44  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

Turks  at  Jassy,  on  the  Pruth,  with  nothing  in  pros- 
pect before  him  but  captivity  or  death,  he  wrote  to 
the  senate,  in  Moscow,  "  If  I  fall  into  the  hands 
of  the  enemy,  consider  me  no  longer  as  your  sov- 
ereign, and  obey  no  command  that  shall  proceed 
from  the  place  of  my  confinement,  though  it  should 
be  signed  by  my  own  hand.  If  I  perish,  choose  the 
worthiest  among  you  to  succeed  me." 

This  certainly  looks  very  little  like  selfishness. 

We  have  said,  that  it  is  not  our  intention  to  write 
a  history  of  Russia;  neither  do  we  think  of  writing 
a  biography  of  Peter  ;  but  it  is  essential  to  our  pur- 
pose to  show,  that  a  despotic  government  is  not, 
necessarily,  the  worst  evil  that  can  befall  a  nation  ; 
and  we  claim  the  further  indulgence  of  the  reader, 
while  we  endeavor  to  prove  that,  when  the  sov- 
ereign is  a  good  and  wise  man,  it  may  be  the 
greatest  of  blessings,  inasmuch  as  there  are  many 
reforms  that  an  absolute  monarch  may  effect,  which 
a  limited  one,  or  a  republican  government,  dares  not 
even  attempt. 

Perceiving  that  the  peasants  and  lower  classes 
were  oppressed  by  the  boyarins,  or  nobles,  Peter 
appointed  a  board  of  commissioners  to  inquire  into 
such  abuses  ;  and  the  result  was,  the  exile  into  Si- 
beria of  a  great  number  of  civil  officers  of  the  three 
first  ranks,  and  the  establishment  of  strict  laws 
against  the  like  abuses  in  future. 

We  have  not  yet  read  that  Great  Britain  ever 
punished  a  West  India  planter  for  abusing  his 
slaves ;  and  we  do  not  look  to  see  the  day  when 
the  general  government  of  free  America,  or  of  any 
of  its  several  sovereignties,  will  send  a  Virginian,  oi 
Georgian,  or  Carolinian  boyarin  to  the  state  prison, 
or  the  penitentiary,  even  for  the  murder  of  one  of 
his  serfs  ;  not  but  that  the  despotic  Peter  set  us 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  45 

a  worthy  example  how  to  act  for  the  greater  good 
of  the  greater  number. 

Peter  did  not  consider  it  prudent  to  abolish  sla- 
very in  Russia,  in  his  own  time,  though  he  gave  it 
his  most  serious  consideration. 

Neither  did  France  consider  it  prudent  to  abolish 
slavery  in  her  colonies,  till  her  own  down-trodden 
masses  took  the  reins  of  government  into  their 
own  hands,  and,  having  known  the  bitterness  of 
thraldom,  and  tasted  the  sweets  of  liberty,  them- 
selves magnanimously  said  to  their  slaves,  "  Be 
ye  free,  also!"  —  and  this  was  not  till  long  after 
Czar  Peter's  time. 

Neither  did  Great  Britain  consider  it  prudent  to  set 
her  slaves  free,  till  ten  years  ago ;  and  that  class  of 
her  citizens  and  nobles  who  most  feelingly  sympa- 
thize with  the  Poles,  and  most  malevolently  abhor 
and  loudly  denounce  the  Emperor  Nicholas,  deny 
the  propriety  of  the  measure,  to  this  day. 

Neither  do  we  and  our  southern  brethren  think  it 
prudent  to  liberate  our  slaves,  yet ;  and,  like  patriotic 
freemen  as  we  are,  we  quarrel  with,  and  are  ready 
to  plunder  Mexico  for  having  done  so. 

We  do  not  approve  of  slavery  in  Russia,  or  any 
where  else ;  but  we  can  conceive  some  very  good 
reasons  why  Peter,  then,  and  Nicholas,  now,  might 
not  think  it  prudent  to  abolish  slavery.  Would  to 
Heaven  they  were  as  available  in  our  own  justi- 
fication ! 

First,  there  are  61,000,000  of  people  in  Russia, 
of  whom  more  than  22,000,000  are  serfs,  or  slaves. 
There  are,  perhaps,  20,000,000  of  people  in  the 
United  States,  of  whom  about  2,500,000  are  slaves. 
We  do  not  pretend  to  strict  accuracy  in  our  com- 
putation, but  it  is  as  near  as  we  have  the  data  for 
making,  and,  probably,   as  nigh  the  truth  in  the 


46  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

one  case  as  the  other.  Let  us  suppose,  therefore, 
(what  is  not  far  from  the  truth,)  that  one  eighth  of 
our  population,  and  rather  less  than  a  third  of  that 
of  Russia,  are  slaves,  or  serfs,  or  whatever  the  red- 
dest heat  of  patriotism,  Polish  or  American,  may 
choose  to  call  them. 

It  may  not  be  safe,  or  easy,  at  once  to  emanci- 
pate 22,000,000  of  slaves,  in  a  country  menaced 
on  all  sides  like  Russia,  from  time  immemorial, 
and,  in  Peter's  time,  engaged  in  wars  that  shook  its 
fabric  to  its  foundation.  But  there  would  cer- 
tainly be  no  danger  to  17,500,000  people,  at  peace 
with  all  the  world,  or  any  difficulty,  in  emancipat- 
ing 2,500,000  slaves,  if  they  were  so  minded,  and 
if  their  boasted  love  of  liberty  was  aught  but  base 
hypocrisy  and  an  empty  sound. 

Slavery  is  scattered  all  over  Russia,  and  two 
thirds  of  the  entire  people  are  interested  in  its  con- 
tinuance. Slavery  is  confined  to  less  than  a  third 
part  of  our  territory,  and  not  a  third  part  of  our 
entire  population  are  interested  in  its  continuance. 

It  might  be  dangerous  for  even  a  despotic  sov- 
ereign to  attack  the  interests  of  the  two  thirds  of 
his  subjects,  possessing  all  the  wealth  and  intel- 
ligence of  his  dominions.  The  free  people  of  the 
United  States  might,  and,  some  day,  we  trust,  will, 
without  difficulty  or  danger,  persuade  the  slave- 
holding  states  to  give  up  their  slaves;  but  they 
are  but  an  eighth  of  our  population.  Moreover, 
we  are  prepared  to  prove,  and  shall,  in  the  proper 
place,  that  the  system  of  vassalage  in  Russia  is  not 
unmitigated  slavery,  and  that  the  need  of  emanci- 
pation is  not,  and  never  was,  half  so  urgent  in 
Russia  as  in  the  United  States. 

But  this  is  an  enlightened  land  of  liberty,  and 
Russia  is  a  degraded  land  of  slavery  j  and  yet, 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  47 

there  is  apparently  half,  and,  in  reality,  twice  as 
much  slavery  in  the  United  States  as  there  is  in 
Russia. 

At  all  events,  the  despotic  czar,  Peter,  did  some- 
thing to  ameliorate  slavery.  Our  southern  breth- 
ren, on  the  contrary,  have  done  all  they  could  to 
aggravate,  and  are  doing  all  they  can  to  perpetuate 
and  extend  it. 

Whatever  may  be  said  of  absolute  sovereignty 
in  other  respects,  there  is  one,  in  Russia,  in  which 
it  is  synonymous  with  absolute  liberty ;  we  mean, 
with  regard  to  religious  opinions.  It  is  true  that 
Peter  put  to  death  one  of  the  Roskolnicks,  or  sec- 
taries of  the  ancient  faith  ;  but  it  was  not  as  a 
heretic  that  the  religionary  suffered,  or  contrary  to 
his  own  desire  to  win  a  crown  of  martyrdom,  which 
he  conceived  he  might  make  sure  of  by  an  attempt 
to  assassinate  the  czar.  In  all  other  religious  mat- 
ters, Peter  acted  with  the  greatest  prudence,  and 
practised  and  enjoined  the  most  unbounded  tolera- 
tion—  an  example  that  has  been  followed  by  all 
his  successors. 

It  needs  no  ghost  from  the  grave  to  tell  us,  that,  if 
the  union  of  church  and  state  be  an  evil,  the  separate 
temporal  power  of  the  church  is  a  worse.  Peter 
eflfected  its  total  destruction,  without  the  merciless 
persecutions  and  oppressions  that  have  commemo- 
rated the  downfall  of  hierarchies  in  other  countries. 
He  did  not  attempt  to  depose  the  prelate  in  posses- 
sion, though  he  curbed  his  ghostly  power.  When 
the  patriarch  remonstrated  with  him  against  chan- 
ging the  ancient  customs  of  his  subjects,  and  espe- 
cially their  dress,  without  their  consent  and  against 
their  will, — 

^'Father,"  replied  the  czar,  *''are  you  not  the 
head  of  the  Russian  church  ? " 


48  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

^^  Yes,  sire,  by  your  favor,"  rejoined  the  prelate. 

''  Then  why  do  you  turn  head  and  advocate  of 
tailors  ?  "  asked  Peter.  "  I  intend  to  give  my  sub- 
jects better  proofs  of  my  love  and  care  than  what 
depends  on  the  imaginary  consequence  of  dress." 

When  this  aged  prelate  died,  Peter  declared 
himself  head  of  the  church,  and  would  suffer  no 
successor  to  be  elected.  He  appointed  the  learned 
metropolitan  of  Rezan,  instead,  to  the  administration 
of  affairs,  and  ordered  the  chief  clergy  to  degrade 
one  of  their  number  for  censuring  the  measure. 
On  their  excuse,  that  they  had  no  spiritual  power 
to  degrade  their  equal,  he  appointed  a  bishop  of  his 
own,  for  the  express  purpose.  There  was  much 
grumbling  ;  but  it  availed  the  malcontents  nothing. 

One  law  he  made  that  should  alone  immortalize 
him ;  a  law  that  many  civilized  nations  may  blush 
to  read  to  this  day.  He  forbade  any  man  in  the 
public  service,  any  settled  burgess,  and,  above  all, 
any  minor,  to  enter  a  monastery. 

Women  have  especial  reason  to  bless  the  despot 
Peter's  name.  He  first  ordained  that  no  couple 
should  be  married  without  their  own  free  consent, 
or  till  after  an  acquaintance  of  at  least  six  weeks. 
The  consequences  have  been,  that  there  has  been 
less  cruelty  on  tne  part  of  husbands,  and  fewer  ex- 
ecutions of  wives  for  the  murder  of  their  partners. 
He  also  ordered  his  married  nobles  to  travel,  and 
to  take  their  wives  with  them,  that  they  might 
share  their  opportunities  for  information  and  im- 
provement. 

The  Russians  began  their  year  in  September, 
because  they  imagined  that  the  world  was  created 
in  autumn,  when  the  fruits  were  ripe.  Peter 
taught  them  that  the  wosld  had  two  hemispheres, 
and  reformed  their  calendar. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  49 

Peter  was  not  omniscient :  of  course,  his  judg- 
ment was  not  always  correct.  We  cannot  see 
what  right  he  had  to  enact  sumptuary  laws,  or  by 
what  association  of  ideas  he  connected  them  with 
civilization.  We  do  not  see  the  use  or  propriety 
of  taking  off  men's  beards  by  force.  Nevertheless, 
a  despotic  government  is  necessarily  a  military  one, 
and  the  first  principle  of  law  martial  is,  that  orders 
must  be  obeyed,  right  or  wrong.  The  general  who 
suffers  the  soldier  to  dispute  his  commands,  has 
virtually  laid  down  his  authority  from  that  mo- 
ment. Having  once  ordered  his  subjects  to  be 
shaved,  it  became  matter  of  necessity  with  Peter 
to  depilate  their  chins ;  for,  from  the  moment  when 
the  ukase  of  an  emperor  of  Russia  shall  have  been 
successfully  resisted,  the  empire  will  date  its  decay 
and  dissolution.  Who,  and  especially  what  mili- 
tary man,  can  doubt,  that,  had  the  Polish  insurrec- 
tion been  successful,  Lithuania,  Finland,  Livonia, 
and  all  the  former  Swedish  provinces,  would  also 
have  revolted,  and  that  Russia,  in  fine,  would  have 
been  dismembered,  and  carried  back  to  the  political 
weakness  and  condition  in  which  Ivan  Vassilie- 
vitsch  found  it  ? 

The  rapidity  with  which  Peter  achieved  his 
work  of  improvement  justifies  his  violence,  as  it 
was  only  exerted  for  good.  But  for  the  terror 
he  inspired,  St.  Petersburg  and  the  Russian  navy 
would  not  now  be  in  existence.  The  priesthood 
powerfully  aided  him  in  his  undertaking  ;  not  from 
good-will,  or  because  they  comprehended  his  aims, 
but  because  it  was  unsafe  for  them  to  do  otherwise. 
When  he  commanded  the  peasantry  to  shave,  as  a 
practice  of  cleanliness,  they,  regarding  the  excres- 
cence as  a  sacred  relic  of  nationality,  consulted 
one  of  the  bishops  on  the  propriety  of  compliance. 
5 


50  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

'^  Death  is  the  penahy  of  disobedience,  my  friends," 
repHed  the  prelate.  ''  1  recommend  to  you  to  com- 
ply with  the  imperial  ukase.  Remember,  that 
beards  will  grow  again ;  but  heads  will  not." 

The  Russian  character  is  more  deeply  and 
thoroughly  imbued  with  loyalty  than  that  of  any 
other  nation  of  whom  history  tells,  with  the  excep- 
tion, perhaps,  of  the  Chinese  and  Japanese.  Be- 
fore Peter  forbade  them,  the  Russians  gloried  in 
calling  themselves  their  prince's  slaves.  His  will 
they  regarded,  and  regard,  as  the  will  of  God,  and 
their  paramount  rule  of  action.  A  yoke  that,  under 
a  bad  monarch,  would  be  insupportable,  has  been 
rendered  easy  and  natural  to  the  nation  by  religious 
feeling  and  long  habit.  They  tremble  or  exult  at 
the  very  sight  of  the  emperor,  accordingly  as  they 
believe  he  has  reason  to  be  displeased  with  them, 
or  otherwise.  Would  he  permit  it,  they  would 
throw  themselves  at  his  feet  as  he  passes  ;  and 
they  confess,  with  their  lips  and  their  lives,  that 
they  have  nothing  of  their  own,  and  that  they  hold 
their  lives  and  possessions  of  his  bounty,  and  only 
during  his  gracious  pleasure.  The  czar  is  the 
head  of  the  church  and  state,  the  chief  of  the  army, 
and  the  fountain  of  rewards  and  honors  ;  but  would 
all  this  have  sufficed  to  make  Russian  loyalty  a 
religion  and  a  fanaticism,  if  the  imperial  power  had 
not  ever  been  exerted  for  the  good  of  the  people  ? 
if  it  had  not  ever  been  the  barrier  between  them 
and  oppression  ?  Would  he  have  ever  received  the 
endearing  title  of  "father,"  from  his  subjects,  if 
he  had  not  deserved  it  ? 

When  Alexis  conspired  against  his  father,  Peter 
the  Great,  and  was  by  him  condemned  to  death, 
Prince  Menzikoff  was  charged  with  the  execution 
of  the  sentence.     At  sunset,  looking  from  a  win- 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  51 

dow  of  his  palace,  Peter  thought  he  saw  his  son 
mount  the  scaffold ;  he  saw  the  axe  ghtter,  and  the 
head  fall.  He  was  mistaken  ;  hoping  that  he  would 
relent,  Menzikoff  had  deceived  him,  and  the  next 
day  informed  him  that  Alexis  still  lived.  Peter 
renewed  the  sentence,  and,  this  time,  Alexis  saved 
his  head  by  dying  a  natural  death.  The  reader 
may  suppose  that  some  condemned  criminal  was 
executed  in  the  czaro  witch's  stead.  Not  so  ;  it  was 
a  young  soldier,  who,  of  his  own  free  will,  had 
offered  to  die  for  his  prince  ;  and  were  a  substitute 
for  the  emperor,  or  his  son,  wanted  now,  there 
would  not  be  lacking  multitudes  ready  and  ea- 
ger to  lay  their  heads  on  the  block,  either  in  the 
army  or  among  the  people. 

The  merit  of  this  devotedness  is  enhanced  by 
the  fact,  that  few  of  the  great  crimes  which  imply 
and  involve  a  contempt  of  life  are  committed  in 
Russia;  murder  scarcely  ever,  though  theft  and 
robbery  are  of  daily  and  hourly  occurrence.  The 
Russian  depredator  is  neither  ferocious  nor  cruel. 
Peter  himself  has  left  us  his  reasons  for  depriv- 
ing his  son  of  the  succession.  After  a  long  list 
of  his  causes  of  complaint  against  Alexis,  he  pro- 
ceeds, — 

"Albeit,  our  son,  by  so  long  a  course  of  dis- 
obedience against  us,  his  father  and  lord,  and  par- 
ticularly by  the  dishonor  he  hath  cast  upon  us  in 
the  face  of  the  world,  by  withdrawing  himself  and 
raising  calumnies  of  us,  and  by  opposing  his  sov- 
ereign, hath  deserved  to  be  punished  with  death, 
nevertheless,  our  paternal  affection  inclines  us  to 
have  mercy  on  him,  and  we,  therefore,  pardon  his 
crimes,  and  exempt  him  from  all  punishments  of 
the  same  ;  but,  considering  his  unworthiness,  we 
cannot,  in  conscience,  leave  him  after  us  the  sue- 


62  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

cession  of  the  throne  of  Russia,  foreseeing  that  he 
would  entirely  destroy  the  glory  of  our  nation  and 
the  safety  of  our  dominions,  which,  through  God's 
assistance,  we  have  acquired  and  established  by  an 
incessant  application. 

"As  we  should  pity  our  faithful  subjects  if,  by 
such  a  successor,  we  should  throw  them  back  into 
a  worse  condition  than  they  were  ever  in  yet,  so, 
by  the  paternal  authority,  in  virtue  of  which,  by 
the  laws  of  our  empire,  afiy  even  of  our  subjects 
may  disinherit  a  son,  and  in  quality  of  sovereign 
prince,  we  do  deprive  our  son  Alexis  of  the  succes- 
sion, even  though  there  should  not  remain  a  single 
person  of  our  family  after  us,  &c. 

''  We  lay  upon  our  said  son  Alexis  our  paternal 
curse,  if  ever  he  pretends  to,  or  reclaims,  the  suc- 
cession ;  and  all  those  who  shall  ever,  at  any  time, 
oppose  this  our  will,  and  shall  dare  to  consider  our 
son  Alexis  as  our  successor,  or  to  assist  him  in 
that  purpose,  we  declare  traitors  to  us  and  their 
country."  i 

From  what  is  positively  known  of  the  character 
of  Alexis,  it  appears,  that,  in  so  much  as  is  here  set 
down,  Peter  acted  justly,  wisely,  and  patriotically. 
This  young  man,  by  his  own  showing,  was  per- 
verted and  corrupted  by  priests  and  flatterers. 

In  1717,  Peter  again  instituted  an  investigation 
into  abuses  and  oppressions  of  the  people.  Prince 
Wolkonski,  the  governor  of  Archangel,  was  shot, 
and  Peter  did  not  spare  even  his  favorites,  Menzi- 
koff  and  Apraxin.  He  endeavored  to  regulate  the 
administration  of  justice,  by  instituting  the  colleges 
of  the  governments,  and  a  legislative  committee, 
taking  the  code  of  his  father,  Alexis,  for  the  basis 
of  his  new  system.  He  also  erected  a  commercial 
college,  and  treated  the  commercial  class  with  dis- 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  53 

tinction.  He  sent  the  sons  of  his  principal  boyarins 
to  different  parts  of  Europe,  to  learn  ;  taking  him- 
self the  pains  to  ascertain  their  several  peculiar 
talents,  and  recommending  their  several  studies  ; 
and  this  he  did  without  putting  their  parents  to 
charges,  paying  their  expenses  from  the  public 
treasury.  He  forbade  his  subjects  to  write  them- 
selves his  slaves.  What  did  he  not  do,  to  refine 
and  elevate  his  people  ?  Not  the  least,  or  the  least 
worthy,  of  his  doings,  was  the  banishment  of  the 
Jesuits  from  the  soil  of  Russia. 

The  death  of  his  son  and  heir  had  well  nigh 
cost  Peter  his  life ;  but  one  of  his  first  acts,  after 
his  recovery,  was  for  the  benefit  of  his  country, 
and  the  best  interests  of  religion.  It  was  the  in- 
stitution of  the  ''  Holy  Directing  Synod,"  designed 
to  put  an  end  to  the  hierarchy.  In  1721,  he  con- 
cluded the  peace  of  Nystadt,  by  which  Livonia, 
Esthonia,  and  Ingria,  with  Wiburg  and  Kexholm, 
were  added  to  Russia ;  and  its  power  was  fixed  on 
a  basis  that  has  not  yet  been,  and  is  not  likely  soon 
to  be  shaken.  This  great  event  was  celebrated 
by  an  act  of  mercy  ;  a  general  pardon  of  offenders, 
(murderers  and  incorrigible  robbers  excepted,)  and  a 
remission  of  all  claims  of  the  crown  prior  to  1717. 

The  holy  synod  and  the  senate  prayed  Peter,  in 
the  name  of  the  nation,  to  accept  the  titles  of 
"  Father  of  his  country,  and  Emperor  of  all  the 
Russias,  with  the  surname  of  the  Great." 

If  what  a  man  creates  with  his  own  hands  is  his 
property,  Peter  had  earned  a  better  right  to  treat 
Russia  as  his  own  than  any  other  monarch  that 
ever  lived.  But  his  views  went  farther  than  his 
own  benefit ;  they  reached  to  posterity.  To  pre- 
vent his  great  creation  from  falling  into  incompe- 
tent hands,  and  his  work  from  stopping  short  of  its 
5* 


54  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

accomplishment,  he  decreed  that  the  sovereign 
should  have  full  power  to  appoint  his  successor, 
and  to  change  the  appointment,  should  he  think  fit. 

He  separated  the  legislative  from  the  judicial 
function,  by  ordering  that  no  senator  should  sit  in 
a  court  of  justice,  and  that  no  president  of  a  court 
of  justice  should  hold  a  seat  in  the  senate. 

In  1722,  he  instituted  new  investigations  for 
maladministration,  and  condemned  his  favorite,  the 
Vice-Chancellor  Schaffiroff,  to  death.  His  sen- 
tence, however,  was,  on  the  scaffold,  commuted  to 
banishment.  MenzikofF  was  amerced  in  a  fine  of 
twenty  thousand  rubles,  and  severely  flogged  by 
the  emperor's  own  hand.  Many  other  nobles  were 
punished  in  like  manner. 

The  remainder  of  Peter's  life  was  employed 
in  continuing  the  Ladoga  canal,  and  protecting  St. 
Petersburg  against  inundations  ;  in  the  erection  of 
an  academy  of  arts  and  sciences ;  the  trials  of 
state  criminals,  the  promotion  of  the  labors  of  the 
legislature,  the  reformation  and  improvement  of  the 
clergy,  the  retrenchment  of  their  exorbitant  rev- 
enues ;  and  in  the  formation  of  commercial  treaties. 

He  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-three,  in  February, 
1725,  and  the  last  thing  on  his  lips  was  an  act  of 
mercy,  viz.,  the  general  pardon  of  all  offenders ; 
even  conspirators  against  his  person  and  govern- 
ment. 

It  may  not  be  amiss,  here,  briefly  to  recapitulate 
what  was  done,  by  the  most  arbitrary  sovereign  on 
earth,  for  the  advancement  of  the  welfare  of  his 
subjects,  over  and  above  what  has  already  been 
stated. 

Augustus  boasted  that  he  had  found  Rome  a  city 
of  brick,  and  left  it  one  of  marble.  Peter  the  Great 
found  the  delta  of  the  Neva  a  trackless  swamp,  and 
left  — St.  Petersburg. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  55 

He  found  the  Russian  army  a  mob ;  he  left  it  a 
body  of  a  hundred  thousand  infantry,  as  effective 
as  any  in  Europe.  Want  of  horses,  only,  hindered 
him  from  creating  as  good  a  cavalry. 

At  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  Russia  had  not  so 
much  as  a  gun-boat,  and  was  as  little  a  maritime 
country  as  Paraguay.  Peter  left  a  navy  of  forty 
ships  of  the  line,  two  hundred  galleys,  and  several 
excellent  harbors,  seaport  towns,  and  cities. 

He  established  excellent  municipal  regulations 
in  all  the  cities  of  Russia,  once  as  unsafe  as 
Hounslow  Heath,  or  the  roads  of  Calabria. 

He  left  a  naval  and  maritime  college,  to  which 
the  nobility  were  obliged  to  send  their  children  — 

Colleges  in  Moscow,  St.  Petersburg,  and  Kiow, 
where  the  languages  and  sciences  were  taught,  and 
schools  in  all  the  towns  and  villages,  where  the 
children  of  the  peasantry  learned  —  what  even  the 
nobility  and  clergy  were  ignorant  of  before  —  to  read 
and  write.  Till  then,  the  use  of  the  numeral  ci- 
phers was  unknown  in  Russia  ;  a  kind  of  tally, 
made  with  beads  strung  on  wire,  was  employed  in- 
stead, even  in  the  czar's  treasury.  Nay,  when  the 
Patriarch  Micon  would  have  established  two  pro- 
fessorships of  Latin  and  Greek,  at  Moscow,  in  the 
reign  of  Alexis  Michaelowitz,  he  was  disgraced  for 
the  mere  intention.  So  great  was  the  difference 
between  Peter  and  his  father !  It  was  common 
among  the  Russians,  till  Peter's  time,  to  say,  when 
speaking  of  any  thing  hard  to  be  comprehended, 
that  ''  God  and  the  czar  only  knew  it  "  — 

A  college  of  physicians,  an  excellent  dispensa- 
tory, at  Moscow.  Before  Peter's  time,  the  czar's 
own  physician  was  usually  the  only  one  in  Russia. 

He  had  instituted  public  lectures  in  anatomy,  a 
science  whose  very  name  was  till  then  unknown. 


56  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

For  this  purpose  he  had  bought  M.  Ruisch's  excel- 
lent cabinet,  in  itself  a  perpetual  lecture.  The  .dis- 
contented monks  used  his  own  printing-presses,  to 
prove  that  Peter  was  Antichrist ;  for,  they  argued, 
he  shaved  the  living,  and  dissected  the  dead  in  his 
anatomical  college ;  moreover,  the  number  666 
was  not  in  his  name.  The  author  of  this  libel 
himself  furnished  a  practical  subject  for  a  lecture 
on  anatomy,  being  broken  on  the  wheel  for  his 
ingenuity. 

Not  long  before  Peter's  time,  there  was  a  surgeon 
in  Moscow,  who  had  a  skeleton  hung  up  in  his 
chamber,  near  the  window.  One  day,  certain 
Strelitzes,  passing  by,  saw  the  skeleton  swinging 
in  the  wind,  and  at  the  same  time  heard  the  sur- 
geon playing  on  the  flute.  Forthwith  they  re- 
ported that  the  dead  bones  had  danced  to  the  doc- 
tor's music,  which  was  confirmed  by  others,  who 
were  sent  to  inquire  into  the  truth,  and  the  man  of 
science  only  saved  his  life  by  flight  from  the  coun- 
try. The  populace,  however,  dragged  the  skeleton 
about  the  streets  and  burned  it,  as  they  would  have 
done  its  owner,  if  they  could  have  laid  hands  on 
him. 

Peter  left  a  botanical  garden,  collected,  not  only 
from  all  parts  of  Europe,  but  from  Persia,  and  all 
accessible  parts  of  Asia,  not  excepting  China ;  a 
very  extensive  royal  library,  collected  from  Eng- 
land, Holstein,  and  Germany  ;  and  a  flourishing 
trade,  for  the  encouragement  of  which  he  had  built 
new  towns,  dug  canals,  and  made  roads,  including 
that  from  Moscow  to  St.  Petersburg,  a  distance  of 
about  four  hundred  and  fifty  miles. 

He  had  caused  the  orthography  of  the  Sclavo- 
nian  tongue  to  be  reformed,  and  improved  the  form 
of  the  types. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  B7 

He  had  caused  the  Bible  to  be  printed,  and 
obhged  every  father  of  a  family  to  take,  at  least, 
one  copy  ;  and  it  was  therefore  sold  very  cheap. 
Moreover,  he  commanded  the  clergy  to  preach  only 
from  the  Scriptures. 

He  left  an  observatory  where,  in  the  beginning 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  secretary  of  a  Per- 
sian ambassador,  on  his  way  through  Russia  to 
Denmark,  very  narrowly  escaped  being  burned 
alive,  by  the  ignorant  and  superstitious  populace, 
for  having  calculated  and  predicted  an  eclipse  of 
the  sun.  The  prediction  was  at  first  scouted,  as 
such  knowledge  appeared  impossible  without  sor- 
cery ;  but,  when  the  sun  grew  dim,  it  was  not 
without  difficulty  that  the  secretary  was  rescued  by 
the  guards. 

The  eulogists  of  Petei*  the  Great  have  left  uS 
nothing  more  to  say  in  his  praise  ;  he  needs  nothing  ; 
his  works  are  his  best  eulogium,  and  to  them  we 
have  left  it.  The  rest  of  the  works  of  Peter  Alex- 
iowitsch,  and  what  he  did,  and  how  he  warred,  and 
all  his  might,  are  they  not  written  in  all  the  chroni- 
cles of  all  the  nations  of  Europe,  and  all  the  books 
of  the  kings  of  Persia  and  Turkey  ?  We  have  said 
enough,  however,  to  show  that  absolute  monarchy 
may  be  favorable  to  improvement,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, ultimately,  to  liberty.  If  the  Almighty,  in 
his  infinite  goodness  and  wisdom,  ever  chose  a  hu- 
man instrument  to  work  out  a  people's  regenera- 
tion, Peter  was  that  man.  To  his  inspiration,  the 
wisdom  of  all  other  reformers  appears  as  folly,  and 
their  works,  compared  with  his,  look  like  ant-hills 
beside  the  eternal  pyramids. 


58  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 


CHAPTER   III. 

EARLY   CONDITION  OF   POLAND.  — FACTS  FROM 
HISTORY. 

As  we  have  not  pretended  to  give  a  history  of 
Russia,  the  reader  will  doubtless  not  expect  one 
from  us  of  Poland.  There  are  abundance  of  his- 
tories, geographies,  and  patriotic  tracts,  to  which  he 
may  refer  for  any  particular  information  he  may 
need.  Our  business  with  Poland  is  merely  to  con- 
sider its  relations  with  Russia. 

The  disjointed  fragments  of  this  unhappy  king- 
dom, then,  are  supposed  to  contain  about  20,000,000 
of  people,  of  whom  4,298,962,  including  up- 
wards of  213,000  Jews,  are  natives  of  Russian 
Poland.  The  state  of  cultivation  is  extremely 
wretched,  though  the  soil  is  productive  and  the 
climate  regular.  The  peasantry  are  poor,  dirty, 
improvident,  lazy,  and,  like  the  same  class  of  Rus- 
sians, given  to  drunkenness.  Of  course,  the  aspect 
of  the  country  is  rude  and  backward,  the  roads 
wretched,  and  the  inns  miserable.*  Once,  previous 
to  A.  D.  1667,  the  present  kingdom  of  Poland  is 
said  to  have  contained  16,000,000  of  inhabitants. 
This  is,  we  believe,  a  very  great  exaggeration  ;  but, 
considering  the  distracted  state  of  the  country,  and 
the  turmoils  in  which  it  has  been  involved,  the  de- 
crease must  have  been  very  great. 

Before  the  year  1772,  Poland,  the  most  ex- 
tensive level  country  in  Europe,  contained,  to- 
gether  with    Lithuania,     11,500,000    inhabitants, 

*  Encyclopedia  Americana,  and  a  hundred  other  authorities. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  59 

at  the  iitmostj  who,  under  upwards  of  200,000 
petty  masters,  derived  as  little  advantage  from 
the  nominal  freedom  of  the  miscalled  republic  as 
from  the  fertility  of  the  soil.  Industry  was  torpid  ; 
the  whip  of  the  Polish  noble,  as  of  every  other 
slave-driver,  was  its  only  stimulus;  Jew  and  Gen- 
tile drowned  sorrow  in  aqua  vitcB,  together ;  for 
their  common  sentiment  and  saying  was,  ''  Only 
what  I  drink  is  mine."  Wolves  and  wild  beasts, 
though  fierce  and  many,  were  the  least  of  the  na- 
tion's nuisances. 

An  able  writer  observes  of  this  people  that,  in 
their  struggles,  without  beginning  or  end,  with  the 
Goths,  and  Huns,  and  Germans,  and  in  their  inter- 
nal broils,  they  had  acquired  a  wonderful  elasticity 
of  character,  compounded  of  obstinacy  and  pliancy, 
of  defiance  and  submission,  of  servility  and  national 
pride.  They  received  Christianity  and  letters  late 
in  the  tenth  century,  and  were  then  first  called 
Poles.  They  were  ever  at  war  with  their  neigh- 
bors, and  with  each  other,  with  no  other  bond  of 
union  among  them  than  a  common  reigning  family 
(the  Piasts)  and  a  common  name.  Broken  into 
petty  principalities,  like  all  tribes  of  barbarians, 
without  laws  or  freedom,  their  history  is  not  worth 
tracing  ;  and,  the  pretended  civilization  and  learn- 
ing of  both  nations  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding, 
Poland  was  in  a  no  more  respectable  condition 
than  Ireland  under  Rory  O'Connor  and  Dermot 
McMurrough.  The  tree  of  liberty  stood  without 
roots,  till  it  was  overthrown.  There  could  be  no 
more  real  freedom  in  an  elective  monarchy  or  re- 
public, call  it  by  what  name  we  may,  where  the 
noble  only  was  a  citizen,  than  in  Russia,  where 
noble  and  serf  were  alike  slaves  ;  or  in  Georgia  and 
South  Carolina,  where  a  like  barbarous  and  unnat^ 


60  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

ural  state  of  society  prevails.  Such  a  many-headed 
monster  as  such  a  state,  never  can  live  long  without 
external  support. 

Successively  deprived  of  the  Oder,  Silesia,  the 
Baltic,  the  Dnieper  and  the  Carpathian  range,  —  its 
natural  defences,  — and  devoid  of  the  self-contained 
strength  of  cohesion,  Poland  has  always  been  a 
prey  to  foreigners.  We  should  as  soon  think  of 
recording  the  squabbles  of  kites  and  crows  as  the 
early  history  of  its  early  convulsions,  which  neu- 
tralized even  the  effect  of  Christianity.  The  line 
of  the  Piasts  expired  with  its  last  and  best  prince, 
Casimir,  surnamed,  by  the  descendants  of  his  sub- 
jects, —  if  such  a  term,  as  applied  to  them,  is  not  a 
misnomer, — for  his  wise  endeavors  to  create  social 
order,  ''the  Great."  Even  he  was  compelled  to 
yield  portions  of  his  territory  to  the  Germans. 

The  patriots  of  Poland  then  began  to  barter  their 
votes,  as  they  have  continued  to  do  ever  since,  for 
personal  privileges  and  advantages,  at  the  expense 
of  their  country.  Who  were  the  bidders,  and  what 
were  the  bids  for  the  Polish  crown,  it  were  need- 
less and,  useless  to  say ;  suffice  it,  that  it  passed  to 
the  Jagellons,  dukes  of  Lithuania,  by  election  and 
marriage.  United  with  Lithuania,  a  country  speak- 
ing a  different  language  and  professing  a  different 
religion,  (not  Christianity,)  the  nobility  of  both 
states,  with  that  of  Great  and  Little  Poland,  con- 
stituted one  diet,  and  became  the  most  powerful 
state  in  the  north.  Still,  the  succession  was  matter 
of  bargain  and  sale,  and -the  nobles  engrossed  the 
entire  representation,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  peo- 
ple. They  appeared  at  the  diet  by  nuncios  or 
deputies  from  the  several  districts ;  without  whose 
consent  no  change  could  be  made  in  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  state. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  61 

The  era  of  the  Jagellons  was  the  palmiest  day 
of  Poland.  There  being  no  such  thing  in  the 
kingdom  as  a  people,  or  third  class,  to  hold  the 
balance  of  power  between  the  king  and  the  nobles, 
the  monarch  had  no  alternative,  but  to  do  as  all 
kings,  of  all  nations,  have  done,  or  tried  to  do,  in 
like  circumstances  —  to  make  the  government  a  per- 
fect despotism.  Need  we  ask  the  reader  to  recur 
to  the  despotism  of  Nadir  Shah,  of  the  Tudors  and 
the  Capets  ?  Need  we  speak  of  the  struggles  of  the 
monarchs  of  Spain  with  their  nobles,  to  show  that 
such  is  the  inevitable  condition  of  a  land  where 
the  people  have  no  rights?  Many  kings  of  Poland, 
in  after  times,  attempted  to  reduce  the  nobles ;  but 
there  was  no  Henry  Tudor,  no  Peter  Alexiowitsch, 
among  them.  Moreover,  they  lacked  the  only  arms 
by  which  a  powerful  aristocracy  can  be  effectually 
subdued  —  wealth  and  a  standing  army.  Then,  as 
in  the  late  insurrection,  the  aristocracy  was  the 
army,  and  the  army  was  the  aristocracy ;  and  it 
disposed  of  the  revenues  at  its  pleasure.  •'  The 
king  was  a  puppet,  and  the  people  ciphers." 

After  the  last  of  the  Jagellons,  Poland  again  be- 
came an  elective  —  what  shall  we  call  it  ?  a  mon- 
archy, where  the  crown  was  a  bought  bauble?  or 
a  republic,  where  the  great  mass  of  the  people  had 
no  representation,  and  no  portion  in  the  common- 
wealth but  air,  water,  and  servitude  ?  The  nobles 
convened  in  mass,  and  conferred  the  crown  on 
Henry  of  Anjou,  of  the  blood  royal  of  France,  who 
accepted  it  with  regret,  at  the  command  of  his 
brother,  Charles  IX.  Whether  it  was  obtained  for 
him  by  bribery,  or  whether  jealousy  of  each  other 
prompted  the  nobles  in  their  choice,  we  shall  not 
inquire ;  either  cause  has  seated  foreigners  on  the 
throne  of  Poland,  a  score  of  times.  Nay,  it  seems 
6 


62  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

very  probable  that  a  less  wealthy  Jew  than  either 
of  the  Rothschilds  might  have  bought  the  nobility 
almost  at  any  time.  Henry  first  swore  to  the  pac- 
ta conventa,  or  magna  charta,  of  the  Polish  nobility, 
at  his  coronation  —  nearly  the  same  coronation  oath 
that  was  administered  down  to  the  triple  partition. 
It  made  the  crown  elective,  required  the  convoca- 
tion of  the  diet  once  in  two  years,  and  deprived 
the  king  of  all  active  power.  It  contained  one 
good  thing,  however ;  it  bound  him  to  perfect  tol- 
eration in  religion.  Henry  absconded  from  Poland 
within  the  year,  to  escape  the  degrading  honor 
thrust  upon  him. 

The  attempts  of  the  Swede  Sigismund,  the  next 
foreigner  called  to  the  throne,  to  unite  the  two 
kingdoms  of  the  north,  procured  Poland  the  advan- 
tages of  thirty  years'  foreign  and  civil  war,  and  of 
a  law  (enacted  by  the  diet  in  1609)  authorizing 
and  legalizing  rebellion  and  insurrection,  the  great 
available  pretext  of  Polish  patriotism  to  this  day. 

The  very  pretexts  of  a  bond  of  Polish  union,  and 
a  Polish  form  of  government,  were  renounced  in 
1614,  in  the  reign  of  John  Casimir,  when  the 
nobles  willed  themselves  the  liherum  veto,  by 
which  an  individual  deputy  could  negative  the 
votes  of  all  the  rest ;  equivalent  to  making  Judge 
Lynch  speaker  and  dictator  of  the  diet,  in  which  a 
deputy  could  only  vote  (sometimes  literally)  sword 
in  hand,  and  at  the  peril  of  his  life.  Intimidation 
was  the  settled  policy  of  the  majority. 

It  is  related,  in  illustration  of  the  freedom  of  de- 
bate, and  the  personal  sanctity  conferred  on  the 
members  of  the  diet  by  the  liherum  veto,  that,  on 
one  occasion,  a  stubborn  deputy  concealed  himself 
in  the  large  empty  Russian  stove  that  stood  in  the 
representative    hall,  to   veto  a  contemplated   law. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  63 

Had  he  appeared  openly,  he  might  have  been  si- 
lenced before  he  had  an  opportunity  to  utter  a 
syllable.  As  it  was,  he  thrust  out  his  head ;  but  it 
left  his  body  before  the  words  had  time  to  leave  his 
lips,  obedient  to  the  ready  sabre's  edge  of  a  brother 
deputy. 

After  the  death  of  the  great  Sobieski,  whose 
wisdom  and  valor  for  a  while  delayed  its  downfall, 
the  crown  of  Poland  was  openly  sold  to  the  high- 
est bidder.  When  Augustus  II.,  elector  of  Saxony, 
and  king,  by  purchase  and  force,  of  Poland,  was 
compelled  to  seek  protection  from  his  own  nobles, 
in  the  arms  of  Russia,  the  fate  of  Poland  was  de- 
cided. It  is  impossible  to  imagine  a  class  of  men 
more  unredeemedly  corrupt  than  the  Polish  oligar- 
chy of  that  period.  The  Swedes  did  then,  and 
without  in  the  least  exciting  the  sympathy  of  other 
nations  in  favor  of  Poland,  what  the  Russians  did 
afterwards ;  they  disposed  of  the  Polish  crown. 

At  the  diets  of  1733  and  1736,  the  Lutheran  dis- 
sidents were  made  personally  incapable  of  the  office 
of  deputy,  deprived  of  access  to  all  courts  of  justice, 
excluded  from  all  civil  offices,  and  put  on  a  footing 
with  the  privileged  Jews ;  at  the  same  time  it  was 
made  high  treason  for  them  to  seek  foreign  protec- 
tion. Corruption  was  universal  and  absolute,  and, 
moreover,  in  a  high  state  of  fermentation  when  the 
weak  Poniatowski  came  to  the  throne.  This  man 
(king  he  can  scarcely  be  called)  sought  the  pro- 
tection of  Russia  against  the  rebellious  pride  of  his 
nobles,  and  thereby,  it  is  to  be  hoped  for  the  benefit 
of  liberty  and  humanity,  extinguished  the  oligarchy 
forever ;  for  it  is  sarcasm  to  call  it  either  a  kingdom 
or  a  republic. 

To  illustrate  the  condition  of  Poland  down  to 
the  reign  of  Stanislas  Augustus  Poniatowski,  we 


64 


VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 


cannot  do  better  than  quote  the  undenied  and 
undeniable  account  of  Voltaire  ;  —  though  even  that 
most  concise  and  nervous  of  historians  gives  us 
but  a  faint  idea  of  the  misery  and  abjection  of 
that  unhappy  land. 

"  Poland  is  a  little  larger,  but  less  populous,  than 
France.  Its  inhabitants  have  been  Christians  only 
about  seven  hundred  years.*  This  great  country 
is  very  fertile ;  but  its  people  are,  therefore,  only 
the  lazier.  The  mechanics  and  traders  to  be  found 
in  Poland  are  Scotch,  Frenchmen,  and,  above 
all,  Jews,  who  have  about  three  hundred  syna- 
gogues, and  will  be  driven  thence  on  account  of 
their  multiplication,  as  they  have  been  from  Spain. 
They  buy  the  com,  cattle,  and  provisions,  of  the 
country  at  a  low  rate,  to  barter  at  Dantzic,  and  ia 
Germany ;  and  sell  dearly  to  the  nobles  the  means 
of  such  luxury  as  they  love  and  are  acquainted 
with.  Thus  this  country,  watered  by  the  noblest 
rivers,  rich  in  pasturage  and  salt  mines,  and  clothed 
with  harvests,  remains  poor,  in  spite  of  its  abun- 
dance, because  the  people  are  slaves,  and  the  nobles 
are  proud  and  ignorant. 

*'Its  government  is  the  most  faithful  copy  of 
the  old  Gothic  and  Celtic  governments,  corrupted, 
or  corrected,  throughout,  however.  It  is  the  only 
state  that  has  retained  the  name  of  a  republic  to- 
gether with  the  royal  dignity. 

"  Every  gentleman  has  a  vote  in  the  election  of 
the  king,  and  may  be  king  himself.  This  most 
precious  of  rights  is  coupled  with  the  greatest 
abuses;  the  throne  is  almost  always  at  auction, 
and,  as  a  Pole  is  rarely  rich  enough  to  buy  it,  it 
has  often  been  sold    to   foreigners.      The  nobles 

*  Voltaire  wrote  a  century  ago.  * 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  65 

and  clergy  defend  their  liberty  from  the  king,  and 
deprive  the  rest  of  the  nation  of  thei«s.  The 
people  are  all  slaves ;  so  true  is  it  that  it  is  every 
where  the  fate  of  man,  that,  in  one  way  or  another, 
the  greater  number  shall  be  subjugated  by  the  less. 
There,  the  peasant  sows  not  for  himself,  but  for 
a  lord,  to  whom  he,  and  his  grounds,  and  the  labor 
of  his  hands  belong,  and  who  may  sell  or  slaughter 
him  with  the  beasts  of  the  field.  Every  one  of 
noble  birth  is  accountable  only  to  the  nobility : 
an  entire  assembly  of  the  nation  is  requisite  to  try 
him  on  a  criminal  charge ;  he  cannot  be  ap- 
prehended till  after  condemnation,  and,  therefore, 
punishment  seldom  or  never  takes  place.  There 
are  many  poor  nobles,  who  enter  the  service  of  the 
more  powerful,  receive  their  wages,  and  perform 
the  lowest  offices  —  preferring  to  serve  their  equals 
to  enriching  themselves  by  trade  ;  and  they  style 
themselves  electors  of  kings  and  destroyers  of  ty- 
rants, while  they  curry  their  masters'  horses  !  * 

"  He  who  should  behold  a  king  of  Poland  in  the 
pomp  of  his  regal  majesty,  would  take  him  for  the 
most  absolute  prince  in  Europe  ;  and  yet  he  is  the 
least  so.  The  Poles,  indeed,  enter  with  him  into 
the  contract  that  is  supposed  to  exist  between 
prince  and  subject  in  other  countries.  Even  at 
his  coronation,  while  swearing  to  the  pacta  con- 
venta^  he  absolves  his  subjects  of  their  oath  of 
allegiance,  in  case  he  should  break  the  laws  of 
the  republic. 

"  He  nominates  all  officers,  and  confers  all  hon- 
ors. Nothing  is  hereditary  in  Poland,  but  lands 
and  the  rank  of  noble.  The  son  of  a  king,  or  a 
palatine,  has  no  claim  to  the  dignity  of  his  father  ; 
but  there  is  this  great  difference  between  the  king 

*  Does  not  this  account  for  the  ease  with  which  a  Polish  army 
is  raised,  or  an  insurrection  got  up  ? 

6* 


66  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

and  the  republic ;  the  king  can  take  away  no  office 
after  having  conferred  it;  whereas  the  republic  can 
take  away  his  crown,  if  he  transgresses  the  laws 
of  the  state. 

"  The  nobles,  jealous  of  their  liberty,  often  sell 
their  votes; — but  their  love,  rarely.  Scarcely 
have  they  elected  a  king,  when  they  dread  his 
ambition,  and  oppose  him  with  their  cabals.  The 
men  he  has  made  great,  and  cannot  unmake,  often 
become  his  enemies,  instead  of  remaining  his  crea- 
tures. Those  attached  to  the  court  are  hated  by 
the  rest  of  the  nobility ;  and  thus  there  are  always 
two  parties — the  inevitable,  and,  indeed,  necessary 
division  of  a  country  that  will  have  liberty  and 
kings  too. 

"  Whatever  concerns  the  nation  is  settled  in  the 
assembly  of  the  general  estates,  called  the  diet 
These  estates  are  constituted  of  the  senate  and  a 
number  of  gentlemen.  The  senators  are  palatines 
and  bishops :  the  second  order  is  composed  of  dep- 
uties from  the  several  palatine  diets.  The  arch- 
bishop of  Gnesne,  primate  of  Poland,  vicar  of  the 
kingdom  in  case  of  interregnum,  and  first  person  in 
it  next  to  the  king,  presides  in  these  great  assem- 
blies. It  is  seldom  that  there  is  another  cardinal 
in  Poland ;  because,  as  the  Roman  purple  gives  no 
precedence  in  the  senate,  a  cardinal-bishop  would 
be  obliged  either  to  sit  in  his  place  as  senator, 
or  to  renounce  the  solid  privileges  of  his  dignity 
in  his  own  country,  to  maintain  the  pretensions  of 
a  foreign  rank. 

"  By  the  laws  of  the  kingdom,  these  diets  should 
be  alternately  held  in  Poland  and  Lithuania.  The 
deputies  often  settle  their  affairs  in  them  sabre  in 
hand,*   like    the   ancient    Sarmatians,   their   fore- 

•  This  pugnacity  may  account  for  the  sympatliies  of  our  mem> 
bers  of  Congress  with  the  Poles 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  67 

fathers ;  and  sometimes  even  in  the  midst  of  drunk- 
enness, a  vice  of  which  the  Sarmatians  were  igno- 
rant. Every  gentleman  deputed  to  these  general 
estates  enjoys  the  right  the  tribunes  of  the  people 
had,  in  Rome,  of  opposing  the  laws  of  the  senate. 
By  saying,  I  protest ^  a  single  gentleman  frustrates 
the  unanimous  resolutions  of  all  the  rest,  and,  if 
he  leaves  the  place  where  the  diet  is  held,  it  must 
then  separate. 

"  The  remedy  applied  to  the  evils  that  arise 
from  this  law  is  more  dangerous  still.  Rarely  is 
Poland  without  two  factions.  Unanimity  in  diets 
being,  therefore,  impossible,  each  party  forms  a 
confederation,  in  which  questions  are  carried  by 
the  plurality  of  voices,  without  regard  to  the  re- 
monstrances of  the  minority.  These  assemblies, 
illegal  by  the  laws,  but  sanctioned  by  custom,  are 
held  in  the  king's  name,  though  often  against  his 
will,  and  contrary  to  his  interests ;  much  as  the 
League  in  France  made  use  of  the  name  of  Henry 
III.  to  overwhelm  him,  and  as  the  Parliament  of 
England,  who  beheaded  Charles  I.  upon  a  scaf- 
fold, began  by  putting  his  name  to  every  reso- 
lution they  made  for  his  destruction.  When  the 
troubles  are  over,  it  belongs  to  the  general  diets  to 
confirm,  or  annul,  the  acts  of  these  confederations. 
A  diet  may  even  change  all  that  the  diet  preceding 
has  done,  for  the  same  reason  by  which,  in  a  mo- 
narchical state,  a  king  may  abolish  the  laws  of  his 
predecessor,  and  his  own. 

"  The  nobility,  who  make  the  laws  of  the  repub- 
lic, also  constitute  its  force.  They  take  horse  on 
great  occasions,  and  may  compose  a  body  of  more 
than  a  hundred  thousand  men.  This  great  army, 
called  the  pospolite,  moves  with  difficulty,  and  is 
ill  governed.     The  difficulty  of  procuring  subsist- 


68  VINDICATION     OF     RUSSIA     AND 

ence  and  forage  makes  it  impossible  for  it  to  hold 
long  together ;  an^  discipline,  subordination,  and 
experience,  are  lacking ;  but  the  love  of  liberty 
(liberty  !)  that  animates  it  renders  it  always  for- 
midable. 

''  It  may  be  beaten,  or  dispersed,  or,  for  a  while, 
enslaved ;  but  it  soon  shakes  off  the  yoke.  The 
pospolite  compare  themselves  to  reeds,  bowed  down 
by  the  tempest,  that  rise  as  soon  as  the  wind  ceases 
to  blow.  For  that  reason  it  is,  that  they  have  no 
fortified  places  ;  they  desire  to  be  the  only  ramparts 
of  their  republic ;  they  never  suffer  their  king  to 
build  fortresses,  for  fear  he  should  use  them,  less  to 
defend,  than  to  oppress  them.  Their  country  is 
every  where  open,  with  the  exception  of  two  or 
three  frontier  places,  —  so  that  if,  in  their  civil  or  for- 
eign wars,  they  ever  persist  in  standing  a  siege, 
they  are  obliged  to  throw  up  earthen  fortifications 
in  a  hurry,  to  repair  old,  half-ruined  walls,  to  deepen 
ditches  almost  filled  up ;  and  the  city  is  taken  be- 
fore the  intrenchments  are  completed. 

"  The  pospolite  are  not  constantly  mounted  in 
defence  of  the  country ;  they  get  to  horse  only  by 
command  of  the  diet,  or,  in  extreme  dangers,  some- 
times at  the  king's  simple  order. 

''  The  ordinary  defence  of  Poland  is  an  army 
always  to  be  kept  on  foot  at  the  expense  of  the  re- 
public. It  consists  of  two  bodies,  under  two  differ- 
ent grand  generals.  The  first  corps  is  the  army  of 
Poland,  and  should  consist  of  thirty-six  thousand 
men  ;  the  second,  to  the  number  of  twelve  thou- 
sand, is  the  army  of  Lithuania.  The  two  grand 
generals  are  independent  of  each  other.  Albeit 
appointed  by  the  king,  they  render  an  account  of 
their  operations  only  to  the  republic,  and  their  au- 
thority over  their  trooj^s  is  supreme.     The  colonels 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  69 

are  absolute  masters  of  their  regiments :  it  is  their 
business  to  maintain  them  as  they  can,  and  to  pay 
them ;  but,  being  rarely  paid  themselves,  they  rav- 
age the  country,  and  ruin  the  cultivators,  to  gratify 
their  own  rapacity  and  their  soldiers'.  The  Polish 
lords  live  more  magnificently  with  these  armies 
than  in  the  cities ;  their  tents  are  handsomer  than 
their  houses.  The  cavalry,  which  constitutes  two 
thirds  of  the  army,  consists  almost  wholly  of  gen- 
tlemen, and  is  remarkable  for  the  beauty  of  its 
horses  and  the  richness  of  its  dresses  and  harnesses. 

''The  gendarmes,  above  all,  who  are  distin- 
guished as  hussars  and  pancernes,  never  stir  unac- 
companied by  several  valets  with  led  horses,  deco- 
rated with  silver,  plated,  and  studded  bridles,  em- 
broidered saddles,  gilded  saddlebows  and  stirrups, 
and  sometimes  solid  silver  ones,  and  wide,  trailing 
housings,  after  the  fashion  of  the  Turks,  whose 
splendor  the  Poles  imitate  as  much  as  they  can. 

"  The  infantry  is  as  ill  appointed,  ill  clad,  and  ill 
armed,  as  the  cavalry  is  ornate  and  superb  ;  without 
regular  uniform,  or  aught  else ;  such,  at  least,  it 
was  till  about  the  year  1710.  These  foot-soldiers, 
who  resemble  vagabond  Tartars,  endure  cold,  hun- 
ger, fatigue,  and  all  the  weight  of  the  war,  with 
incredible  fortitude. 

"  The  character  of  the  ancient  Sarmatians,  their 
ancestors,  may  still  be  observed  in  the  Polish  sol- 
diers—  the  same  fury  in  attack,  the  same  prompti- 
tude in  flight  and  return  to  battle,  the  same  rage  of 
slaughter  when  victorious." 

Such  was,  in  brief,  the  history,  such  the  govern- 
ment, condition,  and  character,  such  the  liberty  of 
a  people  whom  the  world  pities  for  having  been 
conquered,  by  no  means  for  the  first  time,  and  for 
having  lost  their  freedom  by  coming   under   the 


70  VliifDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

three  strong  and  settled  governments  of  Russia, 
Austria,  and  Prussia !  We  contend  that  such  pity 
and  such  sympathy  are  misplaced  and  wasted  ;  as 
much  so  as  our  pity  for  Texas,  when  deprived  by 
Mexico  of  the  privilege,  or  liberty,  to  perpetuate 
and  extend  negro  slavery.  None  of  their  wars,  or 
their  rebellions,  have  been  for  national  freedom  ;  on 
the  contrary,  they  have  almost  always  been  for  the 
slavery  of  the  many,  and  the  tyranny  of  the  few. 
The  people,  properly  so  called,  took  no  part  in  them  ; 
and,  as  one  master,  however  despotic  and  arbitrary, 
is  preferable  to  a  hundred  thousand,  we  maintain 
that  Poland  is  far  better  off  under  Nicholas,  and 
would  be,  under  any  government  strong  enough  to 
hold  her  quiet,  than  she  ever  was  under  any  of  her 
own  kings.  She  was  not  robbed  of  freedom ;  for 
she  never  had  it ;  and,  at  the  time  of  the  second  par- 
tition, her  condition  had  come  to  that  pass  that  no 
change  could  have  made  it  worse.  We  cannot 
imagine  a  more  deplorable  state  of  affairs,  in  a  coun- 
try professing  civilization  and  Christianity,  than  that 
of  Poland  when  she  was  a  nation.  Where  was 
there  ever  seen,  elsewhere,  a  country  of  slaves ;  a 
prey  to  anarchy,  murder,  and  misrule :  where  God 
was  not  feared  or  man  regarded ;  without  laws,  or, 
worse,  with  only  such  laws  as  were  neither  respect- 
ed nor  enforced ;  where  life  was  not  safe,  and  prop- 
erty was  of  no  value  ;  without  any  one  thing  that 
makes  fatherland  dear  to  man  ;  too  weak  to  defend 
itself,  and  owing  its  separate  existence  only  to  the 
quarrels  of  its  neighbors,  and  to  the  equal  barbarism 
of  another  nation,  whose  regenerated  existence  has, 
at  last,  swallowed  it  up  ?  Never,  since  the  creation 
of  the  world,  was  misery  seen  equal  to  Poland's ; 
not  even  in  Morocco,  in  the  reign  of  Muley  Ismael ; 
for  he,  at  least,  had  a  monopoly  of  oppression 
and  murder. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  71 

We  do  not  say  that  all  this  is  to  be  taken  with- 
out any  qualification.  We  know  that  there  was 
learning  among  the  Polish  aristocracy,  and  valor, 
and  such  patriotism  as  abhors  the  idea  of  submis- 
sion to  foreign  dictation  ;  such  patriotic  indignation 
as  the  Thugs  felt,  when  suppressed  by  the  British, 
in  India.  We  know  that  there  were  brilliant  peri- 
ods in  Polish  history, — as,  for  example,  when  the 
great  genius  of  John  Sobieski  would  have  redeemed 
his  country  from  contempt  and  barbarism,  had 
it  been  redeemable.  We  know  that  the  yoke  of 
Poland  was,  at  different  periods,  felt  by  other  na- 
tions, when  they  were  shrouded  in  a  night  as  dark 
as  her  own.  But  we  advise  all  sympathizers  whom 
the  Polish  Propaganda  have  deluded  with  fairy 
tales  of  the  old-world  glories  and  freedom  of  Po- 
land, just  as  Irish  antiquarians  babble  of  the  civili- 
zation of  Ireland  in  the  times  of  Brian  Boroihme 
and  Milesius,  to  read  history,  and  bless  God  that 
they  are  not  the  inheritors  from  Polish  fathers. 
Happy  had  it  been  for  Poland  had  she  produced  a 
Peter  Alexiowitsch,  or  even  a  Nadir  Shah,  ten  centu- 
ries ago ;  happier  is  it  for  her  that  she  has  a  Nicho- 
las now,  instead  of  a  King  Adam  Czartoryski  and  a 
revived  oligarchy  ! 

During  the  thirty  years'  peaceful  reign  of  Augus- 
tus III.,  the  pospolite  almost  wholly  lost  what  effi- 
cacy it  ever  had.  It  neglected  all  military  exercises, 
and  became  a  mere  inert  mass,  without  arms,  dis- 
cipline, or  subordination,  and  alike  incapable  of  obe- 
dience or  command.  In  this  reign  arose  the  con- 
spiracy, or  plot,  or  whatever  it  may  be  called,  that 
has  never  since  been  abandoned,  of  the  Czartorys- 
kis,  to  overthrow  the  republic  and  establish  mon- 
archy.*     It   was   frustrated   by   the   real   patriot- 

*  Rulhiere. 


72  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

ism  of  Grand  General  Count  Branicki,  the  most 
powerful  person  in  Poland,  who  very  justly  pre- 
ferred peace  under  one  form  of  government,  bad  as 
it  was,  to  any  change  likely  to  be  brought  about  by 
English  intrigue  and  private  Polish  ambition. 

Stanislas  Poniatowski,  —  the  Manuel  Godoy  of 
Poland,  —  by  God's  blessing  the  last  of  the  Polish 
kings,  on  whose  fate  so  much  ink  and  so  many 
tears  have  been  expended,  was  as  much  a  patriot 
and  hero  as  Miss  Porter's  "  Thaddeus  of  Warsaw  " 
was  an  historical  personage.  He  was  a  mere  ele- 
gant, weak,  selfish  sensualist  and  voluptuary,  the 
creature  of  the  Czartoryskis,  and  the  favorite  of 
Catherine  II.,  whose  favor  he  won  by  his  personal 
accomplishments,  and  was  raised  by  her  power  and 
influence  to  the  throne.  Nor  are  Catherine's  am- 
bitious views  on  Poland  so  much  to  be  blamed  as 
they  usually  are.  She  may  be  in  some  degree  ex- 
cused for  giving  away  what  did  not  belong  to  her, 
viz.,  the  Polish  crown,  when  we  consider  that 
Prince  Czartoryski  first  sent  his  emissary  to  her, 
for  such  Poniatowski  then  was,  to  beg  it  as  a  fief. 
Catherine  must  have  been  more  disinterested  and 
conscientious  than  any  other  European  monarch, 
excepting  Charles  XII.,  has  ever  been,  to  disclaim  a 
supremacy  so  admitted.  And  it  is  the  son  and  rep- 
resentative of  this  very  Czartoryski,  who  laid  down 
his  country's  national  independence  on  the  altar  of 
personal  ambition,  who  now  calls  on  Christendom  to 
help  him  to  shake  off  the  yoke  his  father  voluntarily 
put  on,  and  to  restore  what  that  father  threw  away.* 

*  Augustus  Czartoryski  was  palatine  of  Polish  Russia;  had  ac- 
quired great  wealth  by  marriage,  and  had  thousands  of  followers, 
who  looked  up  to  him  as  their  sovereign.  He  had  all  the  power, 
and  none  of  the  virtues  or  talents,  of  Warwick,  the  English  king- 
maker. 

His    brother    Michael   was   a   designing  statesman,  and   con- 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS. 


73 


The  conduct  of  Catherine  is  by  no  means  with- 
out a  precedent  in  European  history.  It  has  a 
perfect  parallel  in  the  course  taken  by  Edward  I., 
of  whom  John  Baliol  offered  to  hold  the  crown  of 
Scotland  as  a  fief.  Edward  did  not  hesitate  to 
accept  it ;  but  there  was  this  difference  in  the  two 
eases.  The  Scottish  nation  were  not  Poles.  A 
man  of  the  people  raised  the  people  in  resistance  j 
that  people  were  vassals,  but  not  slaves ;  and  Ed- 
ward, as  able,  and,  comparatively  speaking,  as  pow- 
erful a  prince  as  Catherine,  died  at  Burgh  upoa 
Sands,  without  having  effected  his  object. 

An  idea  of  the  character  of  the  last  king  of  this 
unfortunate  republic,  as  it  is  strangely  called,  may 
be  gathered  from  a  single  historical  fact.  Cathe- 
rine's letter,  announcing  her  husband's  death  and  her 
own  accession,  found  him  in  bed.  The  messenger 
also  brought  him  a  picture,  representing  the  em- 
press on  both  sides  of  him,  painted  as  Bellona  and 
Minerva.  Frantic  with  delight,  Poniatovvski  sprang 
from  his  couch,  and  alternately  poured  forth  his 
thanksgiving  to  Heaven  and  the  pictures.  Such  a 
man  was  a  fit  sovereign  for  a  people  who,  as  an 
historian  by  no  means  inimical  to  them  remarks, 
'^  had  too  long  degraded  themselves  in  the  scale  of 
nations,  to  be  able  much  to  resent  an  insult." 

When  the  first  Russian  army  was  obliged,  by 
Prince  Radzivil,  and  the  khan  of  the  Tartars  of 
the  Crimea,  to  retire  from  the  territory  of  Poland, 
the  unfortunate  royal  patriot,  Stanislas  Poniatow- 
ski,  wept  that  his  traitorous  designs  were  frustrated. 
"  Your  ambition  misleads  you,"  said  the  venerable 

summate  intriguer,  and  grand  chancellor  of  Lithuania.  It  is  re- 
corded that  he  numbered  upwards  of  a  hundred  thousand  nobles  on 
his  list  of  friends  and  partisans.  The  Czartoryskis  were  a  branch 
of  the  Jagellons. 

7 


/  4  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

Branicki ;  "it  is  conducting  you  to  slavery;  and 
perhaps  your  greatest  success  will  only  serve  to 
mark  the  epoch  of  the  entire  destruction  of  your 
country.'^  Poniatowski  answered  only  with  tears, 
and  invectives  against  his  opponents,  and  Branicki 
never  spoke  to  him  again. 

A  question  here  arises :  Did  Catherine  grasp 
the  crown  of  Poland  as  a  fief  of  her  own  motion, 
or  did  she  act  at  the  instigation  of  the  Czar- 
toryskis,  who  thought  to  use  her  as  a  tool,  and 
did  so,  at  the  expense  of  their  own  fingers  ?  We 
shall  see. 

When  the  diet  opened  to  elect  a  king,  in  1764, 
Poniatowski  came  into  the  senate  with  a  Russian 
guard ;  the  chamber  was  filled  with  Catherine's 
soldiers.  But  eight  senators  out  of  fifty  were 
there ;  and  the  Marshal  Mokranowski,  whose  duty 
it  was,  as  marshal  of  the  previous  diet,  to  open  the 
session,  did  not  make  his  appearance  till  he  had 
registered,  in  the  very  building  thus  occupied,  a  pro- 
test against  the  legality  of  the  overawed  diet.  He 
entered  the  chamber  only  officially  to  suspend  the 
authority  of  the  diet,  as  being  under  Russian 
duress;  whereupon  several  of  the  soldiers  made  a 
rush  at  the  bold  patriot,  to  cut  him  down,  and 
he  was  obliged  to  draw  his  sword  in  his  own  de- 
fence. "  What,  gentlemen  !  "  said  he  to  the  depu- 
ties who  wore  the  Czartoryski  badge,  "do  the 
deputies  of  the  country  wear  the  livery  of  a 
family  ? 

"  Gentlemen,  since  liberty  no  longer  exists  among 
us,"  said  the  old  marshal,  then  over  eighty,  "  I  car- 
ry away  this  staff,  and  I  will  never  raise  it  till  the 
republic  is  delivered  from  her  troubles."*     Again 

*  Raising  the  staff  was  the  sign  that  the  diet  was  opened. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  75 

the  weapons  of  the  soldiers  were  raised.  "  Strike," 
shouted  he,  throwing  himself  before  the  old  man, 
'^  strike !  I  shall  die  free,  and  in  the  cause  of 
liberty  !  "  His  enemies  paused,  and  commanded 
the  marshal  to  resign  the  staff.  "  You  may  cut 
off  my  hand,  or  take  my  life,"  he  replied  ;  ''  but  I 
am  marshal,  elected  by  a  free  people,  and  I  can 
only  be  deposed  by  a  free  people.  I  shall  retire." 
It  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  and  peril  that  he 
was  enabled  to  do  so. 

Eighty  nobles,  then,  of  the  three  hundred  who 
should  have  been  present,  constituted  themselves  a 
diet,  and  elected  Prince  Adam  Czartoryski  marshal, 
in  defiance  of  law,  custom,  patriotism,  right,  and  jus- 
tice, and  proceeded  to  proscribe  all  the  leading  con- 
stitutionalists. It  was  then  that  the  independence 
of  Poland  was,  not  crushed  by  Russia,  but  basely 
trampled  on  and  cast  away  by  Poles.  The  ex- 
tinction of  Poland  dates  from  that  day,  not  from 
the  triple  partition  ;  and  who  shall  say  that  Cath- 
erine was  the  prime  author  of  the  wrong,  if  wrong 
there  were? 

We  reverence  the  character  of  such  Poles  as 
Mokranowski  and  Branicki  ;  we  admire  the  enthu- 
siastic valor  they  displayed  in  their  unavailing 
struggles  ;  but  —  the  truth  must  out  —  it  was  not 
for  the  people  they  fought  ;  the  mass  had  no  inter- 
est in  the  quarrel ;  we  never  hear,  in  Polish  history, 
of  a  rising  of  the  laboring  classes. 

In  1764,  four  thousand  nobles  only,  out  of  the 
usual  number  of  eighty  thousand,  consummated  the 
election  of  Stanislas  Poniatowski.  The  coronation 
diet,  by  the  direction  of  the  Czartoryskis,  made  the 
constitution  virtually  monarchical,  and  decreed  two 
statues  to  Augustus  and  Michael  Czartoryski.     On 


t  b  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

the   same   night  placards  were    posted   with   this 
inscription  — 

''erect    two    gibbets,   THEIR  FIT   MONUMENTS.'"* 

Upwards  of  twenty  thousand  Russian  troops  were 
scattered  over  Poland  to  maintain  Stanislas  upon 
the  throne. 

The  Roman  Catholic  was  the  predominant  re- 
ligion in  Poland.  We  have  already  seen  that  the 
dissident  nobles  had  been  deprived  of  all  personal 
share  in  the  government,  though  they  could  still 
send  deputies  to  the  diet.  They  applied  to  the 
election  and  coronation  diets  for  redress ;  but  their 
petition  was  treated  with  contempt,  and  their  con- 
dition rendered  worse  than  before.  They  then  in- 
voked, and  obtained,  the  protection  of  Catherine. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  propriety  of  her 
interference,  there  can  be  but  one  opinion  of  the 
justice  of  her  sentiments. 

The  Northern  States  of  the  Union  complain  of 
the  "  gag  law." 

"  It  would  be  shutting  one^s  eyes  to  proofs,  not 
to  admit  as  a  principle,  that  the  constant  refusal 
to  listen  to  their  representations,  and  to  do  justice 
to  their  grievances,  must  necessarily  produce  the 
effect  of  freeing  them  from  their  ties  to  an  associa- 
tion in  whose  advantages  they  would  no  longer 
participate  ;  and  that,  restored  fully  to  the  condition 
of  the  community  of  freemen,  they  will  be  author- 
ized (without  any  law,  divine  or  human,  forbidding 
such  a  step  in  their  case)  to  choose  among  their 
neighbors  judges  between  them  and  their  equals, 
and  to  avail  themselves  of  their  alliance  if  they 
cannot  in  any  other  way  defend  themselves  from 
persecution." 

Here  we  once  more  see  arbitrary  power  enlisted 

*  Solignac. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  77 

in  favor  of  indestructible  rights.  Stanislas,  after  a 
great  deal  of  hesitation,  declared  that  he  "was  de- 
termined to  defend  his  holy  religion^^^  which  was 
not  attacked ;  and  the  Polish  nobles,  so  dead  to  the 
honor  and  interest  of  their  country,  were,  heart  and 
hand,  unanimous  in  the  cause  of  oppression  and  in- 
tolerance. 

On  this  occasion,  and  for  the  first  time,  we 
find  mention  made,  in  Polish  history,  of  peasants 
and  artisans  counting  for  any  thing  in  the  scale  of 
society,  and  now  only  because  the  dissenting  no- 
bles were  too  few  to  form  a  party  by  themselves. 

The  war  broke  out.  Catherine  had  used  the 
Poniatowski,  or  rather  the  Czartoryski  party,  as  her 
tools ;  and  now  that  they  had  become  useless,  she 
broke  and  flung  them  away.  She  sided  with  the 
constitutionalists.  On  the  other  hand,  France 
supported  the  traitorous  party.  Foreigners  laid 
waste  the  land,  and  the  lawless  conduct  of  the  Po- 
lish chiefs  themselves  excited  such  contempt  of 
the  real  rights  of  the  Poles  among  their  neighbors, 
that,  as  Catherine  said,  they  deemed  Poland  "  a 
country  where  it  was  only  necessary  to  stoop,  to 
pick  up  something."  On  this  feeling  was  founded 
the  triple  partition  of  1773,  the  death-blow  of  Po- 
lish independence.  When  the  Polish  bishop  of 
Kamieniac  applied  to  the  grand  vizier,  Mahomet 
Emin,  for  aid  against  the  Russians,  through  the 
ambassador  Polocki,  he  replied  with  equal  truth 
and  good  sense,  "  He  thinks  we  are  not  acquainted 
with  our  own  history.  Tell  him  that  the  Porte 
remembers  how  often  it  has  had  reason  to  complain 
of  the  Poles.  He  imagines  that  he  is  treating  here 
with  a  Christian  power,  accustomed  to  sport  with 
truth  and  falsehood.  Do  you  know,"  he  added, 
turning  to  his  officers,  '^  what  these  people  call  their 
liberty?  It  is  the  right  of  living  without  laws." 
7* 


78  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

It  seems  to  us  as  if  the  Almighty,  to  demon- 
strate the  evils  of  oligarchy  to  Poland  and  the 
world,  had  suffered  the  great  hulk  of  the  Polish 
aristocracy  to  attain  the  lowest  depth  of  political 
corruption  and  debasement,  and  then,  to  cap  the 
climax,  and  to  show  that  there  was  a  lower  deep 
still,  had,  in  his  wrath,  created  the  Czartoryski  party 
to  make  it  contemptible  and  odious  ;  the  whole  to 
be  swept  away,  at  last,  by  his  instruments,  the 
Russians,  who  spared  the  Polish  people^  because 
they  had  suffered,  not  sinned. 

Thus  that  abominable  people,  the  ancient  Israel- 
ites, were  chosen  to  externiinate  the  Midianites, 
and  Amalekites,  and  other  offending  tribes,  in  Ca- 
naan ;  and,  probably,  a  ferocious,  sanguinary  race 
were  made  executioners,  as  the  better  fitted  for  the 
work  ; 

Thus  Attila  punished  the  degeneracy  of  the 
Roman  empire  ; 

Thus  Tarik  and  Muza  ben  Noseir  chastised  the 
Goths,  and  renovated  Spain  ; 

And,  as  there  is  more  honey  made  when  the 
drones  and  vermin  are  driven  from  the  hive ;  as, 
when  the  taller  weeds  are  moAved,  the  grass  gets 
more  light  and  air ;  so  Poland,  now  that  her  aris- 
tocracy are  driven  away,  or  deprived  of  their  pow- 
er to  do  injury,  may  in  time  awaken  from  the 
debasement  of  ages ; 

Just  as  awakened  Russia,  when  the  Emperor 
Nicholas,  or  his  successor,  shall  have  accomplished 
the  design  nearest  his  heart,  and  the  grand  object 
of  his  life,  (viz.,  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  his  do- 
minions.) will  rank  with  the  most  favored  country 
God's  smile  ever  lighted  and  warmed. 

If  we  could,  as  the  world  has  hitherto  done,  con- 
found the  aristocratic    Polish   party,   who    W2u:red 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  79 

against  Catherine  in  the  last,  and  Nicholas  in  the 
present  century,  with  the  Polish  nation  ;  if  we  could 
delude  ourself  into  the  belief  that  they  warred  for 
their  country,  and  not  exclusively  for  their  order  ;  no 
heart  would  more  deeply  feel  for  their  misfortunes, 
no  voice  would  praise  their  patriotism,  more  warmly 
than  ours ;  but  it  was  not  so.  They  sought  an  ac- 
complice in  Catherine,  and  they  found  a  mistress. 
Their  downfall  was  the  commencement  of  the 
preparation  of  Poland  for  liberty ;  their  w^ar,  in  its 
best  aspect,  was  not  for  freedom,  but  only  for  inde- 
pendence ;  their  patriotism  was  the  patriotism  of 
the  barons  who,  little  dreaming  of  its  consequences 
to  their  vassals  and  villeins,  extorted  Magna  Char- 
ta  from  King  John,  on  the  19th  of  June,  1215  ;  the 
patriotism  of  the  Douglasses,  the  Scotts,  and  the 
Gordons,  when  they  made  their  king  a  puppet,  and 
his  kingdom  one  wide  battle-field  and  grave-yard 
for  each  to  maintain  his  own  unjust  pretensions,  or 
to  bury  those  of  his  rivals  in. 

We  are  sensible  that,  whatever  the  faults  or  dis- 
organization of  Poland  may  have  been,  it  affords 
no  justification  of  its  partition.  We  offer  no  ex- 
cuse or  apology  for  it ;  for  it  admits  of  none.  No 
man  has  the  right  to  assume  the  guardianship  of 
another,  on  the  score  of  that  other's  general  bad 
character,  though  the  guardianship  may  be  a  bene- 
fit to  the  individual  and  to  society  at  large.  The 
same  reasoning  will  apply  to  nations.  But  we 
deny  that  an  individual,  or  nation,  whose  condition 
is  compulsorily  changed  for  the  better,  or  who  is 
forcibly  rendered  incapable  of  injuring  him  or  it- 
self, and  others,  is  entitled  to  any  sympathy  or  pity. 
The  Polish  aristocracy  had  sufficient  warning  of 
their  danger,  arising  from  causes  within  their  own 
control ;   but  they    took  no  measures  to  avert  or 


80  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

meet  it  while  it  was  yet  time.  They  were  deaf 
to  the  experience  of  centuries,  speaking  trumpet- 
tongued.  "  Suspension  of  the  Hberty  of  the  diets, 
foreign  encroachments,  and  the  seizure  of  the  prin- 
cipal men  of  the  nation,"  are  the  three  principal 
complaints  set  forth  in  their  manifestoes.  Did 
they  ever  have  a  free  diet  ?  What  use  did  they 
make  of  such  liberty,  when  they  had  it?  How 
often  did  they  invite  foreign  encroachment,  that  of 
Russia  in  particular  ?  How  many,  and  what  pro- 
portion of  their  principal  men,  deserved  to  be  suf- 
fered to  go  at  large  ?  Pity  them  !  —  as  well  may 
we  pity  the  (Quaker  who  is  beaten  and  robbed  be- 
cause he  will  not  defend  himself.  The  Polish 
aristocracy  were  not  rebels ;  no  !  they  owed  no  alle- 
giance to  Russia,  Prussia,  or  Austria.  Neither  are 
robbers  and  rioters  rebels;  but  we  do  not  pity  them 
when  overtaken  by  the  consequences  of  their  mis- 
conduct, folly,  or  crimes.  Pity  them!  as  well  may 
we  pity  France  for  her  loss  of  life  and  property  in 
St.  Domingo ;  or  the  planters  of  Jamaica  for  the 
compelled  emancipation  of  their  slaves ;  or  Great 
Britain  for  the  loss  of  her  thirteen  colonies.  Rather 
let  us  rejoice  that  they  are  now  constrained  to  live 
by  their  own  exertions,  instead  of  the  labors  of 
their  serfs. 

Before  John  Casimir  gave  up  the  Polish  crown 
for  a  cowl,  he  uttered  this  prophecy  before  the 
diet :  "  1  hope  I  may  be  a  false  prophet  in  stating 
that  you  have  to  fear  the  dismemberment  of  the 
republic.  The  Russians  will  attempt  to  seize  the 
grand  duchy  of  Lithuania,  as  far  as  the  rivers  Bug 
and  Narew,  and  almost  to  the  Vistula.  The  elec- 
tor of  Brandelburg  will  have  a  design  on  Greater 
Poland  and  the  neighboring  palatinates,  and  will 
contend  for  the  aggrandizement  of  both  Prussias. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  81 

The  house  of  Austria  will  turn  its  attention  to 
Cracow,  and  the  adjacent  palatinates." 

Wearied  and  worn  out  by  the  everlasting  annoy- 
ance of  his  factious  nobles,  the  great  Sobieski 
thus  addressed  the  senate :  "  Believe  me,  all  your 
tribunitial  eloquence  would  be  better  employed 
against  those  who,  by  their  factions,  invoke  upon 
our  country  that  cry  of  the  prophet  which  I 
seem,  alas  !  already  to  hear  resounding  over  our 
heads :  '  Yet  forty  days,  and  Nineveh  shall  be  de- 
stroyed ! ' " 

Stanislas  Leszczynski,  who  had  himself  been 
their  king,  exhorted  the  nobility  to  open  their  eyes, 
in  vain.  "  1  reflect  with  dread  upon  the  perils 
that  surround  us,"  said  the  dethroned  philosopher. 
''What  force  have  we  to  resist  our  neighbors? 
what  foundation  for  this  extreme  confidence,  that 
keeps  us  chained,  and,  as  it  were,  slumbering  in 
disgraceful  repose  ?  Do  we  trust  to  the  faith  of 
treaties  ?  How  many  examples  have  we  of  the 
frequent  neglect  of  even  the  most  solemn  agree- 
ments !  We  imagine  that  our  neighbors  are  inter- 
ested in  our  preservation,  by  their  mutual  jealousy 
—  a  vain  prejudice,  that  deceives  us ;  ridiculous 
infatuation,  that  formerly  cost  the  Hungarians  their 
liberty  ;  and  which  will  surely  deprive  us  of  ours,  if, 
depending  on  such  a  frivolous  hope,  we  continue 
unarmed.  Our  turn  will  come,  no  doubt.  Either 
we  shall  become  the  prey  of  some  famous  con- 
queror, or,  perhaps,  even  the  neighboring  powers 
will  combine  to  divide  our  states. ^^ 

The  confederate  Poles  awoke  too  late  to  their 
past  folly  and  their  true  policy,  and  undertook  to 
form  a  new  constitution,  by  which  the  elective 
republican  monarchy  and  the  liberum  veto  were 
abolished,  and  the  third  estate  admitted  to  a  share 


82  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

of  the  national  representation ;  but  the  serfs  were 
not  emancipated,  though  their  bondage  was  made 
lighter.  This  was  the  basis  of  the  constitution  of 
May  3,  1791,  approved  by  Prussia,  and  rejected  by 
Russia  —  why?  Because  the  kingdom  of  Poland 
had  become,  de  facto,  part  and  parcel  of  Russia, 
by  the  right  of  the  strongest ;  because  to  have 
granted  it  would  have  been  granting  to  an  acqui- 
sition of  the  empire  what  had  never  been,  and 
could  not  well  be,  granted  to  the  empire  itself;  be- 
cause it  would  have  been  conceding  a  right  denied 
to  the  empire,  which  was  not  ripe  for  it ;  and  because 
it  would  have  been  a  dangerous  precedent,  at  the 
time  of  the  French  revolution. 

How  comes  it  that  Austria  and  Prussia,  though 
equally  concerned  with  Russia  in  the  partition  of 
Poland,  and  much  more  shamefully,  too,  (inasmuch 
as  they  were  not  invited  by  any  Polish  party  to 
meddle  with  the  affairs  of  the  nation,)  are  almost 
overlooked  by  sympathizers,  while  Russia  engrosses 
the  whole  volume  of  their  indignation  ?  How  comes 
it  that  Russia  alone  is  reproached  with  all  the  ca- 
lamities of  the  war  that  ensued  after  this  constitu- 
tion was  framed,  though  that  war  is  wholly  attribu- 
table to  the  perfidy  of  Frederic  William  ?  If  he  had 
not  approved  that  constitution,  and  promised  to  sup- 
port it,  its  framers  never  would  have  risked  the 
step.  He  abandoned  them  to  their  fate  the  next 
year,  saying  that  they  had  done  wrong  to  adopt  a 
constitution  he  had  never  intended  to  support,  with- 
out his  knowledge  and  cooperation  ;  and  this  after 
instructing  his  ambassador  at  Warsaw  to  present 
'*  to  the  king,  the  marshals  of  the  diet,  and  all  those 
who  had  contributed  to  such  an  important  work, 
his  sincere  congratulations,  in  the  most  solemn  man- 
ner, on  the  important  step  he  admired,  applauded, 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  83 

and  considered  essential  to  consolidate  the  nation's 
welfare." 

"  O,  bloodiest  picture  in  the  book  of  time  ! 
Sarmatia  fell  unwept,  without  a  crime. 
Hope  for  a  moment  bade  the  world  farewell, 
And  Freedom  shrieked,  when  Kosciusco  fell." 

So  sings  the  poet,  with  some  poetry  and  no 
truth.  It  would  be  difficult  to  say,  it  would  re- 
quire a  fervid  imagination  to  guess,  what  political 
crime  Sarmatia  had  not  been  in  the  habit  of  com- 
mittmg,  or  what  reason  any  man,  who  loves  his 
kind,  had  to  weep  for  her.  Freedom  would  have, 
indeed,  shrieked  her  death-note,  in  Poland,  and 
Hope  might  have  bade  its  people  farewell,  forever, 
had  Kosciusco  and  his  party  prevailed.  In  1780, 
the  really  patriotic  chancellor,  Zamoyski,  laid  be- 
fore the  diet  the  code  he  had  been  instructed  to 
prepare.  It  recommended  the  abolition  of  the 
kingly  election,  and  the  liberum  veto;  and,  far 
more  important,  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs,  and 
the  elevation  of  the  trading  classes  to  the  elective 
franchise.  The  chancellor  set  the  example  him- 
self, by  emancipating  his  own  serfs,  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  Stanislas  Poniatowski,  the  king's  nephew, 
and  a  few  other  nobles  ;  but  the  rest  of  the  patri- 
otic champions  of  freedom,  at  whose  defeat  Hope 
bade  the  world  farewell,  scouted  the  proposal,  and 
pronounced  Zamoyski  a  traitor.  He  might  as  well 
have  counselled  our  southern  brethren  to  give  their 
slaves  an  interest  in  the  welfare  of  their  country. 

Deprived  of  his  kingdom,  Stanislas  Poniatowski 
was  sent  to  Grodno,  and  compelled  to  abdicate. 
Even  he  has  found  the  sympathizing  commisera- 
tion he  by  no  one  act  of  his  worse  than  useless  life 
deserved.  He  received  an  annual  pension  of  two 
hundred  thousand  ducats,  and  his  debts  were  paid ; 


84  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

had  justice  been  done  him,  they  would  have  been 
quitted  with  a  halter. 

Catherine's  successor,  Paul,  treated  the  defeated 
Poles  with  distinguished  clemency.  He  set  Kosci- 
usco  at  liberty,  offered  him  a  high  rank  in  his  army, 
and  gave  him  twelve  thousand  rubles  and  fifteen 
hundred  serfs.  All  the  other  Poles  whom  Cath- 
erine had  left  in  prison  were  freed,  and  those  who 
had  been  sent  to  Siberia  were  permitted  to  return 
to  their  homes,  to  the  number  of  twelve  thousand. 
Frederic  William  followed  Paul's  example  in  Prus- 
sia. Austria,  on  the  contrary,  treated  the  exiles 
with  great  severity  ;  whence  their  eagerness  to  join 
the  French  army  of  Italy  under  Bonaparte. 

It  is  not  true,  as  Alison  asserts,  that  Poland  owed 
her  decline  and  fall  to  having  "  retained  the  equality 
and  independence  of  savage  life."  Poland  never 
knew  aught  like  equality.  Her  government  has  ever 
been  that  anomaly,  an  unmitigated  oligarchy,  the 
members  of  which  constituted  a  wild  democracy, 
in  the  most  licentious  sense  of  the  word,  among 
themselves ;  of  such  fierce  and  stubborn  republi- 
cans, as,  in  our  Southern  States,  lord  it  over 
helots.  It  was  a  nation  without  a  people,  a 
government  of  checks  to  power  without  any  power 
to  be  checked.  The  Poles,  that  is,  the  Po- 
lish nobility,  were  a  brave  and  warlike  people, — 
all  semi-savages  are,  —  but  their  false  equality  pro- 
duced its  natural  results ;  they  were  the  only  war- 
like nation,  engaged  in  perpetual  civil  and  foreign 
strife,  to  whom  victory  never  added  strength,  peace, 
or  increase.  Their  democracy  was  as  pernicious  as 
their  domestic  tyranny :  they  knew  no  liberty  but 
licentiousness,  and  nothing  of  government  but  its 
weakness.  They  drank  the  bitter  consequences  of 
a  pitiless  aristocracy,  and  a  senseless,  insane  equal- 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS. 


85 


ity,  to  the  dregs,  and  it  was  right  that  they  should  — 
humanity  is  the  better  for  it.  Even  Alison,  with 
all  his  sympathy,  all  his  efforts  to  make  out  a  jus- 
tification, or  apology,  for  Poland,  gives  up  the  case 
in  despair. 

After  the  battle  of  Jena,  where  Prussia  was  laid 
prostrate.  Napoleon  availed  himself  of  the  hatred  of 
the  Poles  to  Russia  to  call  on  them  to  shake  off  the 
yoke  ;  and  with  considerable  success.  The  pospo- 
lite  took  the  field  with  the  French  troops,  and  the 
allies  were  subdued  at  Friedland ;  but  the  only  re- 
sult of  the  war,  so  far  as  it  concerned  Poland,  was, 
that  that  part  of  her  territory  which  had  been  under 
the  dominion  of  Prussia  was  erected  into  an  inde- 
pendent government  by  the  treaty  of  Tilsit,  with 
the  title  of  grand  duchy  of  Warsaw,  and  with  the 
king  of  Saxony  for  its  grand  duke.  The  popula- 
tion of  the  grand  duchy  was  about  four  millions. 
A  commission  was  appointed  by  Napoleon  to  frame 
a  constitution  for  it,  which  he  approved.  It  did 
more  for  the  people  of  Prussian  Poland  than  they 
had  ever  thought  of  doing  for  themselves.  It  abol-» 
ished  slavery,  instituted  a  diet  of  two  legislative 
chambers,  and  vested  the  executive  power  in  the 
king.  The  diet  raised  an  army,  and  introduced  the 
code  of  Napoleon. 
8 


86  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE  GRAND  DUCHY  OF  WARSAW.  — THE  EMPE- 
ROR ALEXANDER.  — THE  KINGDOM  AND  CONSTI- 
TUTION OF  POLAND.  — CONSPIRACY  AGAINST 
RUSSIA.— ABDICATION  OF  THE  GRAND  DUKE 
CONSTANTINE. 

In  the  war  which  immediately  followed  with 
Austria,  the  Poles  of  the  duchy,  under  Poniatowski, 
drove  the  Austrians  out  of  Gallicia ;  but,  at  the 
treaty  of  Vienna,  after  the  battle  of  Wagram,  only 
four  of  the  departments  of  the  conquest  were  added 
to  the  duchy,  while  the  circles  of  Tarnapol  and 
Zbazaz  were  ceded  to  Russia. 

From  this  time  to  1812,  the  grand  duchy  of 
Warsaw,  notwithstanding  its  accession  of  territory, 
was  by  no  means  an  independent  state.  The  grand 
duke  was  a  vassal  of  Napoleon,  and  the  duchy, 
too  weak  to  defend  itself,  was  therefore  a  depend- 
ency on  France.  "  Nothing,"  says  M.  De  Pradt, 
"  could  exceed  the  misery  of  all  classes.  The  army 
was  not  paid,  the  officers  were  in  rags,  the  best 
houses  were  in  ruins,  and  the  greatest  lords  were 
obliged  to  leave  Warsaw  for  want  of  money  to  pro- 
vide for  their  tables."  Still,  the  Poles  hoped  on, 
believing  that  Napoleon  meant  to  restore  their  an- 
cient kingdom ;  and  the  duchy  of  Warsaw  raised 
seventy  thousand  men  for  the  Russian  campaign. 

While  such  was  the  enthusiasm  in  what  had  been 
Prussian  and  Austrian  Poland,  far  different  was  the 
feeling  that  had  been  created  by  Russian  rule  in 
Lithuania.  Alexander  treated  the  Lithuanians  as 
subjects,  not  slaves.     They  were  not  deprived  of 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  87 

their  privileges,  nor  were  their  taxes  raised  ;  their 
laws  underwent  little  change,  and  they  had  the  ap- 
pointment of  most  of  their  own  officers.  Alexander 
evinced  the  utmost  anxiety  for  their  welfare,  pre- 
pared a  liberal  frame  of  government  for  them,  and 
even  proposed  to  erect  Lithuania  into  a  separate 
kingdom.  "Do  not  forget  the  peasants,"  he  said 
to  the  officer  whom  he  had  instructed  to  prepare  a 
code  of  laws  ;  "  they  are  the  most  useful  class,  and 
your  serfs  have  always  been  treated  like  helots," 

"  These  words,"  says  a  sympathetic  English 
historical  writer,*  "  sound  strangely  in  a  Russian 
despot's  mouth,  particularly  when  we  remember  the 
state  of  the  Russian  serfs." 

Why  so  ?  This  Russian,  though  he  had  the  good 
or  evil  fortune,  as  the  reader  may  deem  it,  to  be  born 
to  the  awful  responsibility  of  absolute  authority 
over  more  than  sixty  millions  of  people, —  this  despot 
was  a  man  of  the  mildest,  most  amiable,  and  most 
humane  character,  even  by  the  showing  of  his  most 
inveterate  enemies,  the  aristocratic  Poles.  "  Poland 
may  have  suftered  under  Alexander,"  says  Hordyn- 
ski,  a  Pole,  and  one  of  the  most  passionate  and 
prejudiced  writers  who  ever  put  pen  to  paper  ;  "yet 
he  loved  the  nation  as  a  friend,  which  every  one  of 
my  countrymen  will  allow.  When  he  was  mis- 
taken in  his  measures,  the  reason  was  that,  sur- 
rounded by  bad  men  and  enemies  of  our  nation,  he 
was  prevented  from  knowing  the  truth.  Poland 
forgave  him  all  his  faults,  in  the  grateful  recollec- 
tion that  he  had  restored  her  to  a  separate  existence, 
and  respected  the  constitution."  Alexander,  with  a 
benignant  countenance,  permitted  every  one  freely 

*  Fletcher,  of  whose  compilation  the  Harpers'  History  of  Poland 
is  a  mere  abridgment. 


88  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

to  approach  him,  and  his  features  were  never  dis- 
torted with  passion. 

This  despot,  according  to  the  same  patriotic 
writer,  ''in  the  first  moments  after  entering  upon 
the  government  of  the  kingdom,  seemed  disposed 
to  load  Poland  with  benefits.  He  was  received  by 
the  inhabitants  of  Warsaw  with  the  most  unfeigned 
good-will,  and  his  stay  in  that  city  was  distin- 
guished by  acts  of  beneficence.  The  words  with 
which  he  then  addressed  the  representatives  of  the 
nation  are  still  in  the  memory  of  every  Pole." 

Yet,  in  the  same  breath,  this  querulous  chronicler 
complains  that  the  emperor  appointed  the  veteran 
General  Zajaczek,  a  Pole,  and  the  companion  in 
arms  of  Kosciusco  and  Poniatowski,  viceroy,  and 
the  Grand  Duke  Constantino  general  of  the  army, 
though  he  has  nothing  to  object  against  Zajaczek 
but  that  his  advanced  age  might  make  him  a  tool 
in  the  hands  of  Russia.  Moreover,  whatever  might 
have  been  the  fitness  of  the  Grand  Duke  Constan- 
tine  for  a  civil  ruler,  he  had  approved  himself  a  sol- 
dier fit  to  command  an  army  under  Suwarrow,  and 
he  was  the  emperor's  own  brother. 

Why  does  Alexander's  language  sound  strangely 
in  a  Russian  despot's  mouth,  when  we  remember 
the  state  of  the  Russian  serfs  ?  On  mounting  the 
throne,  he  recalled  a  multitude  of  exiles  from  Si- 
beria, and  manifested  a  continual  desire  to  abolish 
slavery.  After  the  peace  of  Luneville,  that  despot 
devoted  himself  to  the  internal  improvement  of  his 
dominions — of  Russia  proper,  especially :  he  appoint- 
ed a  committee,  under  Prince  Lapuchin,  to  revise  the 
laws;  constituted  the  senate  an  intermediate  body 
between  himself  and  the  people,  and  mitigated  the 
rigor  of  bondage,  particularly  in  the  crown  villages 
and  the  German  provinces.     He  introduced  vacci- 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  89 

nation,  and  paid  two  thousand  physicians  to  care 
for  the  pubhc  health.  Under  him,  agriculture  was 
much  improved,  and  the  Nogay  Tartars,  and  other 
wandering  tribes,  betook  themselves  to  husbandry. 
Science  was  fostered,  Krasenstern  circumnavigated 
the  globe,  and  schools  and  universities  were  es- 
tablished. 

Why  does  any  thing  generous  and  humane  sound 
strangely  from  Alexander's  mouth?  In  1815,  he 
gave  the  Poles  the  privilege  of  trial  by  jury,  within 
six  months  after  his  return  from  Paris.  The  con- 
gress of  Vienna  had  united  the  duchy  of  Warsaw 
with  Russia,  ''  irrevocably,  by  its  oivn  constitution, 
to  be  enjoyed  by  his  majesty,  his  heirs  and  succes- 
sors, forever."  "  If,"  wrote  Alexander  himself  to 
Count  Ostrowski,  the  president  of  the  Polish  senate, 
—  "  if  the  great  interests  involved  in  general  tran- 
quillity have  not  permitted  all  the  Poles  to  be 
united  under  one  sceptre,  I  have  at  least  endeav- 
ored, to  the  utmost  of  my  power,  to  soften  the 
hardships  of  their  separation  j  and  every  where  to 
obtain  for  them,  as  far  as  practicable,  the  enjoy- 
ment of  their  nationality."  This  was  published 
by  the  emperor's  authority ;  and  thus  the  inde- 
pendence and  separate  existence  of  the  kingdom 
were  preserved,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Poles 
themselves,  as  even  Hordynski  admits. 

In  1816,  he  abolished  servitude  in  Livonia,  Es- 
thonia,  and  Courland ;  and  declared  that  he  would 
no  longer  transfer,  with  the  crown  lands,  the  boors 
who  cultivated  them.  He  forbade  the  advertising 
of  human  beings  for  sale  ;  and  gave  leave  to  a  num- 
ber of  boors,  the  bondmen  of  the  deceased  Chancel- 
lor RomanzofF,  to  ransom  themselves  from  their 
master. 

He  said  to  Madame  de  Stael,  — ''  You  will  be 
8* 


90  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA   AND 

offended  with  the  sight  of  servitude  in  this  land. 
It  is  not  my  fault ;  I  have  set  the  example  of  eman- 
cipation ;  but  I  cannot  employ  force.  I  must  re- 
spect the  rights  of  others,  as  much  as  if  they  were 
protected  by  a  constitution ;  which,  unhappily, 
does  not  exist." 

The  lady  replied,  ''Sire,  your  character  is  a 
constitution."  True;  the  character  of  an  arbitrary 
sovereign  is  a  constitution ;  but  there  are  limits  to 
the  power  of  every  constitution.  Slaveholders  will 
rebel  against  any  violation  of  their  supposed  rights, 
as  readily  as  at  the  invasion  of  their  real  ones.  Past 
history  shows  that  it  is  unsafe,  even  for  a  sovereign 
of  Russia,  to  follow  a  course  of  conduct  generally 
disliked  by  the  nation. 

In  1819,  he  said  to  a  deputation  of  the  Livonian 
nobility,  who  requested  his  ratification  of  the  new 
constitution,  made  for  the  benefit  of  the  Livonian 
peasantry,  —  "You  have  acted  in  the  spirit  of  our 
age,  in  which  liberal  ideas  afford  the  true  basis  of 
the  happiness  of  nations." 

A  Russian  noble  asked  the  grant  of  an  estate. 
The  autograph  answer  of  Alexander  is  still  pre- 
served: — '"The  peasants  of  Russia  are,  for  the 
most  part,  in  a  state  of  slavery.  I  need  not  ex- 
patiate on  the  degradation  and  misery  of  that 
condition ;  but  I  have  resolved  not  to  add  to  the 
number  of  those  who  are  doomed  to  suffer  it.  I 
have,  therefore,  laid  it  down  as  a  principle,  not  to 
make  peasants  objects  of  property.  You  shall  have 
the  estate ;  but  on  one  condition,  viz.,  that  the 
peasants  shall  not  be  sold  or  transferred  like  cattle." 
This  letter  is  a  Bunker  Hill  monument  to  Alex- 
ander's honor. 

Napoleon  did  not,  therefore,  find  sixteen  millions 
of  Poles  in  arms  to  receive  him,  as  he  had  expected 


THE    EMPEROR   NICHOLAS.  9t 

and  boasted  he  should.  The  Russian  campaign 
sealed  the  fate  of  Poland,  which,  by  the  congress 
of  Vienna,  was  allotted  to  Russia,  with  the  exception 
of  Cracow  and  its  territory,  which  became  an  in- 
dependent republic,  governed  by  its  own  laws. 

The  country  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Vistula, 
and  the  circle  of  Tarnopola,  which  reverted  to 
Austria  ;  Dantzic  and  its  territory ;  Thorn  and  its 
territory ;  the  greater  part  of  the  department  of 
Posen,  and  the  department  of  Kalisch,  as  far  as 
the  Prozna,  with  the  city  and  circle  of  that  name, 
were  allotted  to  Prussia,  and  erected  into  the  Grand 
duchy  of  Posen. 

All  the  rest  became  the  kingdom  of  Poland, 
with  a  separate  government,  and  with  such  an  or- 
ganization as  the  treaties  of  Vienna  secured  to  all 
Poles,  under  either  of  the  partitioning  governments, 
tending  to  preserve  their  national  existence. 

The  constitution  that  the  despot  Alexander,  this 
"  accident  and  mere  creature  of  circumstances,"  as 
Madame  de  Stael  foolishly  calls  him,  gave  to  Po- 
land, primarily  vested  the  executive  power  in  the 
emperor  of  Russia,  as  king.  It  was  exercised  by  a 
council  of  state,  consisting  of  a  governor  and  five 
ministers.  The  diet  was  to  be  convoked  by  the 
king  every  other  year,  for  thirty  days,  and  was  to 
consist  of  the  senate,  chosen  by  the  king,  (consist- 
ing of  ten  bishops,  ten  waywodes,  and  ten  castel- 
lans ;)  the  chamber  of  nuncios,  or  representatives,  or 
deputies,  appointed  by  the  seventy-seven  assemblies 
of  the  seventy-seven  electoral  districts;  together 
with  eight  deputies  from  the  city  of  Warsaw,  and 
forty-three  from  the  rest  of  the  nation.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  council  of  state  had  a  seat  and  vote  in 
the  diet. 

In  the  chamber  of  nuncios,  the  five  ministers,  and 


92  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

the  members  of  the  three  committees  on  financial, 
civil,  and  criminal  laws,  could  alone  speak  ;  the 
other  nuncios  voted  by  ballot. 

All  laws  devised  by  the  council  of  state  were 
submitted  to,  and  examined  by,  the  diet. 

The  constitution  made  all  religious  and  political 
privileges  equal. 

The  liberty  of  the  press  was  established  on  the 
broadest  basis. 

The  members  of  the  council  of  state  were  made 
personally  responsible  for  their  acts. 

The  bishop  of  Warsaw  was  declared  primate  of 
the  kingdom. 

The  governor  was  to  be  a  native  Pole,  unless 
one  of  the  imperial  princes  should  be  appointed 
viceroy ;  and  all  employments,  civil  and  military, 
were  to  be  given  to  Poles. 

Under  this  constitution,  the  diet  assembled,  for 
the  first  time  in  twenty-three  years,  in  1818,  and 
continued  to  assemble  till  1830. 

Thus,  it  seems,  this  accidental  creature  of  cir- 
cumstances, who  was,  like  his  successor,  adored  by 
the  Russians,  and  who  is  praised  even  by  the 
Poles,  gave  the  people  of  Poland  —  what  they  never 
had,  and  never  so  much  as  had  reason  to  hope 
before  —  peace,  order,  and  a  form  of  government 
as  nearly  like  our  own  as  circumstances  would 
admit.  It  is  not  every  ruler  by  an  accident  who 
has  done  as  well.  We  think  we  could  point  to 
one  or  two  creatures  of  circumstances,  who  have 
borne  rule  in  the  United  States^  who  were  fitter  to 
be  compared  with  Alexander's  court  fool,  if  he  had 
one,  than  with  himself  Heaven  grant  that  such 
an  ''accident"  as  this  despot  may  befall  our  own 
country,  at  the  next  election !  Thinking  very  fa- 
vorably of  Alexander's   benevolence,  we   do   not 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  93 

deem  very  highly  of  his  wisdom,  in  granting  the 
Poles  such  a  charter.  It  was  giving  edge-tools  to 
children,  rum  to  drunkards ;  and,  had  he  lived  a  year 
longer,  he  might  have  learned,  to  his  cost,  what  it 
is  to  tame  wolves  by  moderation,  and  to  cast  pearls 
before  swine.  The  Poles  knew  just  as  much  and 
as  little  of  self-government,  as  the  Highlander  did 
of  the  watch  that  he  took  for  an  animal,  and 
dashed  to  pieces,  when  it  ran  down,  supposing  it 
was  dead! 

The  sympathetic  writers  tell  us,  that  the  hun- 
dred and  sixty-five  articles  of  the  Polish  charter 
were  all  violated.  "These  promises,"  says  Herr 
Von  Lieber,  "were  kept  only  to  the  ear:  —  restric- 
tions on  the  press ;  arbitrary  imprisonment ;  arbitrary 
and  cruel  punishments  ;  insults  added  to  injuries  ;  a 
solemn  mockery  of  a  diet,  which  was  not  allowed 
to  exercise  any  real  authority ;  peculation  and  ex- 
tortion, practised  by  the  inferior  officers;  —  these 
were  some  of  the  features  of  the  Russian  govern- 
ment of  Poland."  So  sing  the  Polish  chroniclers, 
and  the  burden  is  taken  up  by  the  encyclopedist. 
Did  it  never  occur  to  him  that  no  man,  and  no 
men,  were  ever  yet  at  a  loss  for  an  excuse  or 
a  coloring  for  their  own  misdoings  and  imprudence, 
and  that  there  are  two  sides  to  every  story  ?  When- 
ever an  interested  narrator  ascribes  effects  to  causes 
inadequate  to  produce  them,  his  hearers  may  be 
sure  that  he  is  trying  to  disguise  or  conceal  the 
truth,  and  that  the  position  he  takes  is  too  weak 
to  be  tenable,  if  seriously  attacked.  His  state- 
ments are  like  the  (Quaker  guns  of  merchant  vessels, 
which,  the  greater  the  distance  at  which  they  are 
seen,  produce  the  higher  estimate  of  a  force  that 
exists  only  in  imagination. 

The  liberty  of  the  press  was  abolished  in  1819  ; 


94  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

the  sympathizers  all  tell  us  that ;  but  not  one  of 
them  tells  us  why,  or  by  whom,  whether  by  the 
diet  or  the  emperor.  Yet  there  never  was  an  act 
of  arbitrary  power  without,  at  least,  a  pretext.  We 
should  like  a  little  light  on  this  subject.  None 
comes  from  Russia,  and  what  we  get  from  Poland 
comes  through  distorted  prisms.  The  press  is  not 
suffered  to  preach  rebellion  and  bloodshed  here. 

There  were  arbitrary  imprisonments. 

Every  imprisonment  on  the  presentment  of  a 
grand  jury,  every  arrest  made  on  suspicion,  is 
arbitrary,  supposing  the  prisoner  to  be  innocent. 
Without  arrests  and  imprisonments,  there  could  be 
no  trials.  To  know  whether  the  Poles  were  im- 
prisoned unjustly  or  not,  we  ought  to  know  what 
the  charges  were  ;  and  the  fact  that  the  complain- 
ants and  sympathizers  confine  themselves  to  invec- 
tive and  general  terms,  is  pregnant  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  little  injustice  was  done. 

"  What  thief  e'er  felt  the  halter  draw, 
With  good  opinion  of  the  law?  " 

We  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  of  the  conspira- 
cy that  broke  out  in  December,  1825,  against  the 
emperor's  crown  and  life,  (which  extended  its  rami- 
fications equally  through  Russia  and  Poland,)  in 
another  place.  Numerous  arrests,  indeed,  took 
place  in  both  countries  ;  for  it  is  not  usual,  in  any 
land,  to  tamper  with  open,  armed  rebellion,  accom- 
panied with  murder.  "  The  same  justice,"  says 
the  Emperor  Nicholas,  in  his  proclamation  of  the 
2d  of  January,  1826,  "  that  commands  us  to  spare 
the  innocent,  forbids  us  to  spare  the  guilty.  All 
those  against  whom  proceedings  shall  be  instituted, 
and  who  shall  be  convicted,  will  undergo  a  pun- 
ishment  proportioned  to  their  crimes.     From  the 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  95^ 

measures  already  taken  in  the  proceedings,  the 
punishment  will  embrace  in  its  extent,  in  all  its 
ramifications,  an  evil,  the  germ  of  which  is  of  the 
growth  of  years  ;  and  I  am  confident  they  will 
destroy  it  to  the  very  root  ;  they  will  purge  the 
sacred  soil  of  Russia  of  this  foreign  contagion." 

Freedom  of  debate  was  abolished. 

There  is  no  measure  so  extreme,  as  no  circum- 
stances will  justify.  It  was  a  public  blessing  that 
Oliver  Cromwell  put  an  end  to  the  debates  of  the 
Long  Parliament.  It  would  have  been  a  blessing 
to  France  had  freedom  of  debate  been  suppressed 
during  the  Reign  of  Terror.  Abuse  of  the  free- 
dom of  debate  brought  king  stork  upon  the  frogs. 
To  cite  a  hackneyed  proverb,  the  tyranny  of  a  mob 
is  the  worst  of  tyrannies,  and  nothing  but  wrong 
results  from  its  councils.  We  have  nothing  to 
oppose  to  these  sympathizers,  in  this  instance,  but 
analogy  and  the  plain  truth.  A  Polish  diet  had 
never  been  any  thing  but  a  mob,  down  to  the  year 
1818.  We  make  no  vague  assertions ;  we  merely 
ask  some  one,  better  informed,  whether  it  was 
aught    better   after. 

Leaving  speculation  to  others,  we  come  to  the 
plain  facts,  as  far  as  known. 

"  Senators  and  deputies,"  said  the  Emperor 
Alexander,  in  his  proclamation  to  the  third  diet, 
*'  two  diets  have  already  been  held.  That  of 
1818,  guided  by  a  spirit  of  concord  and  harmony, 
promoted  the  welfare  of  the  kingdom  by  wise  laws. 
That  of  1820,  which  spent  its  valuable  time  in 
useless  disputes,  has  hardly  left  a  trace  of  its  labors. 
This  will  teach  you  to  avoid  the  consequences  of 
discord,  and  the  delusion  of  mistaken  self-love." 

In  another  proclamation,  dated  the  13th  of  Feb- 
ruary, he  was   more    explicit.     "  Being  desirous," 


96  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

he  said,  ''of  removing  the  danger  that  the  abuse 
of  one  article  in  the  charter  has  already  caused, 
and  may  cause  again  —  considering  that  the  pub- 
licity of  the  debates  in  both  chambers  has  induced 
the  speakers  to  think  rather  of  an  ephemeral  popu- 
larity than  of  the  public  good,  by  which  the 
debates  degenerated  into  empty  declamations,  cal- 
culated to  destroy  the  expected  unanimity,  and  to 
banish  the  tranquillity  and  deconim  that  should 
prevail  in  every  important  deliberation,  —  desiring 
to  cure  the  evil  in  its  source,  and  to  cause  our  sub- 
jects of  the  kingdom  of  Poland  to  enjoy  all  the 
benefits  which  the  charter  accords  to  them,  —  we 
have  resolved  to  fortify  our  work,  by  altering,  by 
means  of  an  additional  article,  one  point  of  the  reg- 
ulations, that  experience  has  proved  to  us  to  be 
highly  detrimental.'' 

He  therefore  decreed  that  the  sittings  at  the 
opening  and  close  of  the  diet,  and  those  in  which 
the  royal  sanction  of  projects  of  law  was  declared, 
should  be  public,  as  in  time  past ;  but  that,  in  the 
election  of  committees,  and  in  every  discussion  and 
debate  in  the  two  chambers,  they  should  always 
form  themselves  into  a  special  committee.  This 
regulation  was  declared  to  form  an  inseparable  part 
of  the  charter. 

Peculation,  extortion,  and  abuse  of  authority, 
have  ever  existed  in  all  countries;  especially  in 
Poland,  in  the  time  of  its  independence.  It  would 
be  a  miracle,  indeed,  if  they  had  not  prevailed  after 
Its  subjugation  ;  and,  considering  that  almost  all 
the  civil  and  military  officers  of  the  kingdom  were 
Poles  it  is  not  a  little  strange  that  Poles  should  lay 
the  faults  of  their  own  countrymen  to  the  Russian 
government. 

But  we  have  better  reason  still  for  believing  that 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS. 


97 


s* 


the  complaints  of  the  Poles  were  grossly-exaggerated 
pretexts  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  Russia  —  reason  that 
no  man  can  resist.  We  shall  presently  prove  that 
these  suffering  patriots,  the  Poles,  not  only  endeav- 
ored  to  shake  off  the  rule  of  Russia  in  Poland,  but 
also  plotted  with  traitors  to  subvert  the  throne  of 
Russia,  and  conspired  against  their  benefactor's 
personal  liberty,  and,  consequently,  his  life  ;  for 
there  is  usually  but  a  step  from  a  throne  to  a  grave. 
If  the  mild  Alexander  had  lived  longer,  it  is  proba- 
ble that  his  severity  would  at  least  have  equalled 
that  of  Nicholas.  It  is  not  likely  that  he  would 
tamely  have  seen  the  work  of  his  predecessors,  for 
a  century,  wantonly  destroyed. 

"  On  the  death  of  Alexander,  1825,"  says  Lieber, 
still  partial,  though  an  encyclopedist,  '•'  a  conspir- 
acy broke  out  in  Russia ;  and,  on  pretence  that  it 
extended  to  Warsaw,  several  hundred  persons  were 
arrested  in  Poland,  and  a  commission  was  consti- 
tuted, contrary  to  the  provisions  of  the  charter,  to 
inquire  into  the  affair.  The  only  discovery  of  this 
inquisitorial  tribunal  was,  that  secret  societies  had 
existed  in  Poland  since  1821." 

A  pretence  !  a  commission  contrary  to  the  char- 
ter !  Hear  Hordynski,  certainly  the  best  authority, 
in  this  instance. 

While  certain  patriots,  (all  Poles  are  patriots,) 
whose  names  we  do  not  write,  simply  because  no 
tongue  but  a  Russian's  or  a  Pole's  can  pronounce 
them,  were  concerting  the  plan  of  a  revolution, 
*'  they  were  most  agreeably  surprised  by  receiving 
information,  in  1824,  of  a  similar  patriotic  union 
in  Russia  for  throwing  off  the  yoke  of  despotism. 
Their  joy  was  increased  when  they  received  a 
summons  from  this  patriotic  union  in  Russia,  at  the 
head  of  which  were  — ,  (a  jumble  of  consonants  !  J  to 
9 


98  VINDICATION     OF    RUSSIA    AND 

join  hands  with  them.  This  junction  was  effected 
in  Kiow%  when  Prince  Jablonowski  became  ac- 
quainted with  some  of  their  members,  and  was  ini- 
tiated into  their  plans.  The  invitation  was  received 
by  the  Poles  with  delight.  They  offered,  with 
their  whole  hearts,  their  aid  in  the  redemption  of 
the  Sarmatic  nation  from  the  chains  by  which  they 
had  been  so  long  bowed  down. 

"  Soon  after  this,  it  was  agreed  to  meet  in  the 
town  of  Orla,  in  the  province  of  Little  Russia, 
where  solemn  oaths  were  sworn  to  sacrifice  life  and 
property  in  the  cause.  Resolutions  were  taken,  and 
the  means  of  their  execution  were  devised.  The 
Russians  promised  to  the  Poles,  in  the  case  of  suc- 
cess, the  surrender  of  all  the  provinces  as  far  as  the 
frontiers  which  Boleslaw  Chrobry  had  established. 
This  promise,  as  well  as  that  of  eternal  friendship 
between  the  two  brother-nations,  was  sanctioned 
by  the  solemnity  of  oaths.  The  day  fixed  upon 
for  the  breaking  out  of  the  revolution  was  the 
twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  accession  of  Alex- 
ander, in  the  month  of  May,  1826 ;  and  Biala  Cer- 
kiew,  inVolhynia,  was  the  place  selected  for  the 
first  blow.  The  reason  for  choosing  this  place 
was,  that  the  whole  imperial  family,  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  army,  were  to  assemble  there,  to  cele- 
brate the  anniversary  of  the  coronation.  This  oc- 
casion was  to  be  improved  to  gain  over  all  the  well- 
disposed  generals,  aiid  at  the  same  time  to  secure 
the  imperial  family.^'' 

It  is  to  be  mentioned  here,  to  the  honor  of  the 
Polish  conspirators,  that  they  refused  to  put  the 
Grand  Duke  Constantine  to  death,  as  required  by 
their  Russian  complotters.  ''  But,"  said  they,  "  we 
promise  you  to  secure  his  person,  and,  as  he  belongs 
to  you,  we  sliall  deliver  hi?n  into  your  handsJ'^ 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  99 

The  Scotch  Presbyterians  would  not  themselves 
decapitate  Charles  I. ;  but  they  bound  the  victim 
for  the  slaughter,  and  sold  him  to  the  less  con- 
scientious Independents  for  a  price. 

''  The  patriotic  associations  on  both  sides  en- 
deavored to  increase  their  party  by  the  initiation 
of  many  brave  men  in  the  army,  and  in  civil  life. 
In  Lithuania,  the  respectable  president  of  the  no- 
bles, Downarowicz,  and  the  noble  Kukiewicz  of 
the  Lithuanian  corps,  with  many  other  officers, 
were  admitted  into  the  conspiracy  ;  and,  among  oth- 
ers, Jgelstrom,  Wigielin,  Hoffman,  and  Wielkniec. 
All  the  means  and  plans  for  the  approaching  rev- 
olution were  arranged  with  the  utmost  circumspec- 
tion, and  every  circumstance  seemed  to  promise 
success,  when  the  sudden  death  of  the  Emperor 
Alexander  darkened  those  bright  hopes." 

We  think  this  settles  the  point,  that  the  concern 
of  the  Poles  was  no  mere  pretext,  as  a  thousand 
writers,  Polish,  French,  German,  and  English, 
would  have  us  believe.  Now  let  us  see  of  what 
importance  the  conspiracy  really  was ;  but  first,  an 
act  of  justice  must  be  done  to  one  whose  name  is 
never  mentioned  in  this  country,  or  England,  but 
with  unmitigated  obloquy. 

The  Grand  Duke  Constantine  has  been  stigma- 
tized as  ''a  tyrant,  publicly  declared  unfit  even  for 
a  Russian  throne."  It  has  been  intimated,  not 
once,  nor  twice,  but  a  thousand  times,  that  there 
was  a  dispute  between  him  and  his  brother,  the 
present  emperor,  concerning  the  succession,  of 
which  the  conspirators  took  advantage.  The  fact 
is,  that  the  complotters,  not  comprehending  the 
possibility  that  the  grand  duke  could  be  sincere  in 
his  intention  to  abdicate,  wished  that  there  might 
be  a  division  between  the  brothers,  and  believed 
what  they  wished,  as  all  men  are  apt  to  do. 


100  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

The  charitable  author  of  ''  Travels  in  Russia," 
and  "  A  Residence  in  St.  Petersburg,"  after  scanning 
all  the  evil  motives  that  can  be  imagined  forConstan- 
tine's  abdication,  gravely  comes  to  the  conclusion 
that  he  resigned  the  crown  to  escape  assassination  ! 
And  yet  this  man  lived  years  in  Warsaw  without 
guards,  and  died  at  last  in  his  bed. 

The  death  of  the  emperor  Alexander,  loved  and 
revered  as  he  was  by  his  subjects,  caused  great 
anxiety  in  Russia.  On  the  9th  of  December, 
1825,  public  prayers  were  put  up  in  the  churches 
for  his  recovery.  The  chief  nobility,  the  minis- 
ters, the  civil  and  military  officers,  and  a  great 
mixed  multitude,  assembled  in  the  church  of  the 
convent  of  Alexander  Nevskoi.  Before  the  service 
was  ended,  the  chief  of  the  staff  of  the  guards, 
General  Niedhart,  entered  the  church,  and  an- 
nounced the  emperor's  death.  The  news  was  re- 
ceived by  all  present  with  loud  lamentations. 

The  Grand  Duke  Nicholas,  as  soon  as  he  heard 
of  the  event,  announced  it  to  the  empress  mother, 
assembled  the  palace  guard,  and  at  once  took  the 
oath  of  gillegiance  to  Constantine  I.  The  guard, 
all  the  commanders  of  corps,  and  the  general  staff, 
followed  his  example  immediately  afterwards. 

The  senate  now  announced  to  the  Grand  Duke 
Nicholas,  what  had  long  been  believed,  viz.,  that 
his  brother  Constantine  had  renounced  the  right  of 
succession.  He  had  been  divorced  from  his  first 
wife,  a  princess  of  the  house  of  Coburg,  by  an  im- 
perial ukase,  in  1820,  and  had  married  a  Polish 
lady  of  no  very  exalted  rank.  It  had  been  decreed 
before  this,  that  no  child  of  any  of  the  princes  of 
the  imperial  family  should  succeed  to  the  throne, 
unless  related  to  some  reigning  family  by  the 
mother's  side. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  101 

The  senate  informed  Nicholas  that,  in  1823,  the 
late  emperor  had  deposited  with  them  a  sealed  pac- 
ket, which  they  were  directed  to  open,  in  case  of 
his  death,  before  they  proceeded  to  any  other  act. 
This  command  they  had  obeyed,  and  found  that 
the  packet  contained  a  letter  of  Constantino,  dated 
the  14th  of  January,  1822,  renouncing  the  succes- 
sion ;  and  also  a  manifesto  of  Alexander,  dated  the 
16th  of  January,  1823,  ratifying  this  renunciation, 
and  declaring  Nicholas  heir  to  the  throne. 

What  puts  the  idea  of  aught  like  trick  or  collu- 
sion out  of  the  question,  is  the  fact,  that  documents 
of  the  same  tenor  were  found  to  have  been  depos- 
ited with  the  directing  senate,  with  the  holy  synod, 
and  in  the  cathedral  Church  of  the  Ascension  at 
Moscow. 

But  Nicholas  refused  to  avail  himself  of  these 
instruments ;  and  the  directing  senate,  after  having 
taken  the  oath  of  fealty  to  Constantine,  ordered  the 
event  to  be  promulgated  every  where  by  printed 
ukases.  They  likewise  ordered  that  the  form  of 
the  oath  they  were  to  take,  as  faithful  subjects  of 
Constantine  L,  should  be  sent  to  all  the  authorities, 
civil  and  miUtary ;  and  commanded  them  to  cause 
it  to  be  administered  to  all  his  majesty's  male  sub- 
jects, excepting  the  crown  peasants,  the  peasants 
of  the  seigniorial  domains,  and  the  serfs ;  and  that 
they  should  send  their  official  reports  of  the  taking 
of  the  oath  to  the  senate,  with  the  signatures  of 
those  who  had  taken  it  appended. 

All  this  was  done  while  Constantine  was  yet  in 
Warsaw ;  though  Alexander's  death  was  known 
there  two  days  before  the  tidings  reached  St. 
Petersburg. 

Instead  of  assuming  any  of  the  insignia  of  roy- 
alty, however,  Constantine  continued  to  live  as  a 
9* 


102 


VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 


private  individual.  On  the  day  after  the  news  was 
received,  he  despatched  his  brother,  the  Grand 
Duke  Michael,  with  two  letters,  to  his  mother  and 
his  brother  Nicholas,  in  both  of  which  he  declared 
his  adherence  to  his  abdication. 

When  he  had  been  formally  notified  that  the 
oath  of  allegiance  had  been  taken  to  him,  he  still 
solemnly  persisted  in  his  purpose,  and  refused  to  re- 
ceive the  official  documents  transmitted  to  him  as 
emperor.  The  following  is  his  answer  to  the 
minister  of  justice  :  — 

"  The  counsellor  of  the  college  of  the  section  of 
the  procurators-general  of  the  directing  senate  has 
remitted  to  me  a  despatch  from  your  highness  with 
this  address  —  '  To  his  Imperial  Majesty  Constan- 
tino Paulowitsch,  a  very  submissive  report  of  the 
minister  of  justice.' 

''As  I  do  not  think  myself  entitled  to  accept  it, 
(because,  according  to  this  direction,  it  is  not  sent  to 
me,)  I  send  it  back  to  your  highness  by  the  same 
oflicer.  By  my  letter  of  the  1 5th  of  December  to 
his  excellency  the  president  of  the  senate,  the 
privy  counsellor  of  the  first  class.  Prince  Lapou- 
chin,  your  highness  must  have  been  exactly  in- 
formed of  the  reasons  which  do  not  permit  me 
to  accept  the  imperial  dignity.  I  have,  in  conse- 
quence, only  to  repeat  to  you,  in  a  few  words,  that, 
according  to  the  oath  taken  by  all  the  subjects  of 
his  majesty,  the  Emperor  Alexander,  of  glorious 
memory,  in  which,  among  other  things,  it  is  ex- 
pressly said  that  every  subject  is  faithfully  to  serve 
and  to  obey,  in  all  things,  not  only  his  majesty, 
the  Emperor  Alexander  Paulowitsch,  but  also  the 
successor  to  the  throne  of  his  imperial  majesty  who 
should  be  designated  ;  and  as  it  appears,  from  the 
documents  opened  in  the  council  of  state,  which 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  103 

are  entirely  conformable  to  those  deposited  with  the 
directing  senate,  that,  by  the  supreme  will  of  his 
late  majesty,  the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas  has  been 
designated  as  successor  to  the  throne,  the  directing 
senate,  as  conservator  of  the  will  of  his  late  majesty, 
the  Emperor  Alexander  Paulowitsch,  of  glorious 
memory,  ought  to  have  carried  it,  and  will  carry  it, 
into  execution. 

''  While  acknowledging  with  gratitude  the  at- 
tachment which  the  directing  senate  has  shown  to 
my  person,  I  request  your  highness  to  express  to 
that  noble  body  all  my  gratitude,  adding  that,  the 
more  deeply  I  feel  the  value  of  this  attachment,  the 
more  I  am  penetrated  with  the  duty  of  conforming 
unalterably  to  the  will  manifested  by  his  late 
imperial  majesty." 

After  receiving  his  brother's  letter,  and  not  till 
then,  Nicholas  consented  to  mount  the  throne. 

He  issued  a  manifesto,  announcing  his  accession, 
on  the  24th  of  December,  and  communicated  the 
instruments,  on  which  his  claim  to  the  crown  was 
founded,  to  the  empire,  viz. :  — 

The  letter  from  Constantine  to  the  late  em- 
peror, declaratory  of  his  intent  to  abdicate  the  right 
of  succession,  stating  that  he  "does  not  lay  claim 
to  the  spiritj  the  abilities,  or  the  strength,  that 
would  be  required  to  exercise  the  high  dignity  "'  at- 
taching to  his  right  of  primogeniture,  and  professing 
himself  content  with  a  private  station; 

Alexander's  answer,  approving  Constantine's 
renunciation. 

A  manifesto  by  Alexander,  settling  the  crown 
on  Nicholas,  in  conformity  with  Constantine's 
renunciation  ; 

The  letters  from  Constantine  to  Nicholas  and 
the  empress  mother. 


104  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

At  the  same  time,  the  new  emperor  wrote  to 
Constaiitine  to  announce  his  accession,  and  received 
the  following  affectionate  answer  :  — 

"  Most  Gracious  Sovereign :  With  deep  emo- 
tion I  have  had  the  happiness  to  receive  the  most 
gracious  rescript  of  your  imperial  majesty,  announ- 
cing your  happy  accession  to  the  ancient  throne  of 
our  beloved  Russia.  The  supreme  law  of  Russia, 
the  sacred  law,  which  the  stability  of  the  existing 
order  of  things  renders  a  blessing  of  Heaven,  is  the 
will  of  the  sovereign  whom  Providence  gives  us. 

"  By  executing  this  will,  your  imperial  majesty 
has  executed  that  of  the  King  of  kings,  who  so 
evidently  inspires  the  monarchs  of  the  earth  in 
affairs  of  such  high  importance. 

"  The  decrees  of  God  are  accomplished.  If  I 
have  in  any  thing  cooperated  in  their  accomplish- 
ment, I  have  only  done  my  duty ;  the  duty  of  a 
faithful  subject,  of  a  devoted  brother;  in  short,  of  a 
Russian,  who  is  proud  of  the  happiness  of  obeying 
God  and  his  sovereign. 

"  The  Almighty,  who  protects  the  destiny  of 
Russia  and  the  majesty  of  the  throne  ;  who  lav- 
ishes his  benediction  on  the  people  whom  he  finds 
faithful  to  his  laws  ;  the  Almighty,  in  his  mercy,  will 
be  your  guide,  sire,  and  will  guide  you  by  his  light. 

"  If  my  most  ardent  efforts  can  contribute  to 
lighten  the  burden  that  God  has  imposed  on  you, 
I  hasten  to  lay  at  the  foot  of  your  throne  the  hom- 
age of  my  unlimited  devotedness,  of  my  fidelity,  of 
my  submission,  and  of  my  zeal  in  executing  the 
will  of  your  imperial  majesty. 

'*  I  implore  the  Most  High,  that  his  holy  and  in- 
scrutable providence  may  watch  over  the  precious 
health  of  your  majesty,  that  he  may  prolong  your 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  105 

days,  and  that  your  glory,  sire,  the  glory  of  your 
crown,  may  be  transmitted  from  generation  to 
generation. 

"  I  am,  sire, 
"  Your  imperial  majesty's  most  faithful  subject, 

"  CONSTANTINE. 

«  ^T^r  S  Dec.  20,  1825,  (O.  S.) 

The  manifesto  was  dated  on  the  24th  of 
December;  on  the  25th,  his  brother's  renun- 
ciation was  read  by  Nicholas  to  the  senate. 
Then  he  declared  his  acceptance  of  the  crown, 
and  was  immediately  proclaimed  emperor.  The 
manifesto  was  published  the  next  day,  on  the 
morning  of  which  all  the  regiments  of  guards 
were  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  Nicholas  I. 

We  can  see  nothing  in  all  this  that  looks  at  all 
like  pride,  or  ambition,  in  either  of  the  imperial 
brothers ;  nothing  that  argues  that  Nicholas,  or 
the  Russian  people,  thought  Constantino  unfit  for 
a  sovereign  of  Russia ;  nothing  that  is  not  highly 
honorable  to  the  hearts  of  both  ;  nothing  in  which 
even  the  political  rancor  of  a  Pole,  or  the  inflamed 
ignorance  of  an  English  sympathizer,  could  detect 
a  fault.  Hence  we  infer  that  ignorance  of  facts 
alone  has  caused  Constantino's  name  to  be  held  in 
detestation. 

At  noon,  on  the  26th  of  January,  1826,  the 
general  of  the  guards  and  staflT  reported  that  the 
oath  of  allegiance  had  been  taken  by  six  regi- 
ments. No  account  had  been  received  from  the 
other  regiments  ;  but  no  importance  was  attached 
to  the  fact,  till  it  was  reported  that  four  artillery 
oflicers  had  made  opposition,  and  had  been  put 
under  arrest ;  also,  that  the  remainder  of  the  ar- 


106  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

tillery  had  taken  the  oath.  Then  came  the  news 
that  three  or  four  hundred  men  of  the  Moscow 
regiment  had  left  their  barracks,  and  proclaimed 
Constantino  I.,  with  colors  flying.  These  men 
marched  to  the  great  square  of  Isaac,  where  they 
were  soon  joined  by  a  great  many  of  the  people, 
and  by  many  of  the  body-grenadier  regiment  and 
marine  guards.  No  other  corps  took  part  in  the 
sedition.  The  whole  number  was  but  about  two 
thousand  —  whence,  it  seems,  the  conspirators  had 
miscalculated  the  military  as  well  as  the  popular 
feeling. 

The  distinguished  General  Miloradovitsch,  the 
aged  survivor  of  fifty  battles,  went  to  the  square 
to  address  the  rebels ;  but,  in  the  act  of  so  doing, 
was  assassinated  by  a  man  in  a  citizen's  dress, 
who  shot  him,  mortally,  with  a  pistol :  he  died 
a  few  hours  after.  Count  Sturler,  chief  of  the 
grenadiers  of  the  body-guard,  and  two  major-gen- 
erals, were  also  slain,  and  many  other  officers  were 
wounded.  Undismayed  by  the  fate  of  his  faithful 
generals,  the  emperor  himself  repaired  to  the  spot, 
unarmed ;  but  his  eflbrts  to  appease  the  mutineers, 
and  bring'  them  back  to  duty,  were  unsuccessful. 
It  was  in  vain  that  he  appealed :  in  vain  that  he 
explained  to  them  his  brother's  magnanimous  re- 
nunciation ;  there  were  among  them  those  whose 
interest,  or  at  least  intention,  it  was,  not  to  be  con- 
vinced or  persuaded ;  there  are  none  so  deaf  as 
those  who  will  not  hear ;  and  the  emperor  was,  at 
last,  obliged  to  order  the  artillery  and  the  loyal 
guards  to  advance.  The  rebels  threw  themselves 
into  a  hollow  square,  and  first  delivered  their  fire, 
but  were  soon  dispersed,  with  a  loss  of  two  hun- 
dred slain.     Order  was  restored  by  six  o'clock. 

The  troops  remained  faithful,  and  bivouacked 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  107 

all  night  round  the  palace.  The  Grand  Duke 
Michael,  who  had  arrived  in  the  capital  during  the 
tuniuh,  succeeded  in  bringing  six  companies  of 
the  Moscow  regiment  back  to  their  duty.  These 
companies,  however,  had  taken  no  part  in  the  re- 
volt ;  they  had  merely  refused  to  take  the  oath. 

It  is  in  vain,  now,  to  inquire  what  were  the 
designs  of  the  conspirators.  Their  motive  could 
not  have  been  any  predilection  in  favor  of  Con- 
stantino, inasmuch  as  they  required  their  Polish 
accomplices,  as  a  primary  condition,  to  put  him  to 
death  at  the  outset,  as  Hordynski  informs  us,  hav- 
ing full  knowledge  of  the  facts.  Neither  could  it 
have  been  any  great  general  grievance,  for  they 
had  complained  of  none ;  or  any  personal  repug- 
nance to  Nicholas,  for  the  conspiracy  originated, 
and  was  to  have  been  carried  into  execution,  in  the 
lifetime  of  Alexander.  Though  the  premature 
explosion  was  hastened  by  his  death,  it  took  place 
before  Nicholas  had  afforded  any  pretext  for  it  by 
any  act  of  his  own.  For  all  these  reasons,  there- 
fore, we  conclude  that  it  arose  from  the  resent- 
ment of  the  nobles  at  the  settled  policy  of  the 
Russian  government,  which  originated  in  Ivan 
Vassilievitsch  I.  and  was  continued  by  all  his 
successors,  down  to  Nicholas  I. — a  policy  that 
steadily  aimed  at  the  humiliation  of  the  great  and 
the  exaltation  of  the  small.  This  has  been  the 
natural  course  of  things  in  all  feudal  nations ;  no 
aristocracy  ever  yet  surrendered  their  privileges 
without  a  struggle. 

Whatever  the  motive  of  the  conspiracy  may  have 
been,  it  is  very  certain  that  one  of  its  objects  was 
to  seize  the  royal  family  ;  whether  to  murder  or 
make  tools  of  them,  One  alone  knoweth.  It  took 
the  shape  of  a  military  mutiny,  and  was  quelled, 


108  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

as  all  mutinies  should  be,  as  the  laws  of  war 
allow;  and  there  was  neither  cruelty  nor  injus- 
tice in  the  matter.  It  was  to  have  been  expected 
that  the  sufferers  would  complain,  and  that  they 
would  find  sympathy ;  criminals,  of  every  grade, 
always  do.  It  is  quite  probable,  as  the  govern- 
ment alleged,  that  the  assassination  of  the  whole 
imperial  family,  and  the  massacre  of  all  their  ad- 
herents, were  contemplated.  What  change  could 
the  conspirators  have  expected  to  effect  while  Nich- 
olas lived  —  a  monarch  for  whom  no  labor  was  too 
great,  and  whose  courage  no  danger  could  daunt  ? 

A  special  committee  was  immediately  organized 
to  investigate  this  rebellion,  consisting  of  the  Grand 
Duke  Michael,  the  minister  of  war,  privy  council- 
lor Prince  Galitzin,  and  Generals  Berkendorff,  Le- 
wascheff,  and  Palapoff.  It  is  stated,  and  is  more 
than  probable,  that  they  speedily  obtained  infor- 
mation of  the  extent  of  the  plot  and  the  names  of 
the  conspirators.  Numerous  arrests,  especially  of 
military  officers,  took  place  in  various  provinces 
of  the  empire,  as  well  as  in  the  capital.  The 
extent  and  particulars  of  the  plot  were  not,  how- 
ever, made  public.  The  general  belief  and  report 
was,  that  the  conspirators  intended,  as  a  prelimi- 
nary to  establishing  a  constitution,  to  have  mur- 
dered the  whole  imperial  family,  when  they  should 
have  assembled,  according  to  custom,  on  the  12th 
of  January,  in  the  chapel  of  the  castle,  to  participate 
in  a  religious  ceremony  in  memory  of  the  Emperor 
Paul.  The  victims  were  to  have  been  shut  up  in 
the  chapel,  and  there  murdered  ;  after  which,  the 
castle  was  to  have  been  seized,  all  foreigners  mas- 
sacred, and  the  city  given  up  to  the  soldiers  for 
pillage,  for  three  days. 

In  consequence  of  discoveries  made  by  the  commit- 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  109 

tee  of  investigation,  orders  were  sent  to  Lieutenant 
Colonel  Gebel,  commanding  the  Tchernigoff  regi- 
ment of  infantry,  to  arrest  Lieutenant-Colonel 
MouraviefF  Apostol,  of  the  same  regiment ;  but 
Apostol  resisted  his  commanding  officer,  wounded 
him  in  several  places,  and  then  instigated  six  com- 
panies of  the  regiment  to  revolt,  by  urging  the 
oath  of  allegiance  they  had  taken  to  Constantine. 
He  next  arrested  the  courier  and  gendarmes  sent 
to  convey  him  to  St.  Petersburg,  plundered  the 
regimental  chest,  set  the  malefactors  in  the  prison 
of  VassilikofF  at  liberty,  and  gave  the  town  up  to 
rapine  and  pillage.  Three  companies  of  the  regi- 
ment, however,  remained  steadfast  in  their  duty,  un- 
der Major  Trouchin,  and  separated  from  the  rebels. 

As  soon  as  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  first 
army  received  advice  of  this  mutiny,  he  ordered 
Prince  Scherbatoff  to  march  instantly,  with  a 
sufficient  force,  to  exterminate  the  rebels.  Lest 
they  should  escape  the  prince's  pursuit,  the  Grand 
Duke  Constantine  himself — whose  name  and  sup- 
posed claims  were  the  pretext  of  their  rebellion  — 
.was  directed  to  cooperate  with  Scherbatoff,  with 
another  corps  of  infantry. 

This  fact  is,  of  itself,  sufficient  proof,  that,  as 
Nicholas  said,  in  his  manifesto  of  the  2d  of  Jan- 
uary, ''  the  sacred  words  fidelity^  oath^  legitimate 
order,  even  the  names  of  the  czarowitsch  and 
the  Grand  Duke  Constantine,  were  for  them  only  a 
pretext  for  treason.  They  wished  to  profit  by  the 
moment,  to  accomplish  their  criminal  designs  — 
designs  long  contrived,  long  meditated,  long  ma- 
tured in  darkness,  and  the  mystery  of  which  the 
government  had  penetrated  only  in  part.  They 
intended  to  cast  down  the  throne  and  the  laws ;  to 
overturn  the  empire,  to  produce  anarchy." 
10 


110 


VINDICATION    or    RUSSIA    AND 


Mouravieff  Apostol  seems  to  have  intended,  at 
first,  to  march  to  Bronssiloflf,  by  Yastoff ;  but  the 
motions  of  his  pursuers  made  him  change  his  plan, 
and  he  was  proceeding  to  Biala  Tcherkiov,  in  hopes 
of  getting  possession  of  a  treasure  in  the  house 
of  the  Countess  Branicki,  when  he  found  himself 
surrounded  on  all  sides.  On  the  morning  of  the 
15th  of  January,  General  Rath  came  up  with  him 
on  the  heights  of  Oustinovka,  near  the  village  of 
Pologoff,  in  the  district  of  VassilikofF. 

Seeing  escape  imprEieticable,  Apostol  advanced  in 
column  on  the  imperial  artillery ;  but  his  column 
was  instantly  broken  by  grape-shot,  and  then 
charged  by  cavalry  ;  upon  which  the  rebels  threw 
down  their  arms.  Seven  hundred  were  made  pris- 
oners, including  Apostol  himself,  who  was  wounded 
by  a  grape-shot  and  a  sabre-cut.  Baron  Solovieff, 
the  second  captain,  two  lieutenants,  and  a  brother 
of  Apostol,  (who  was  a  colonel  on  half  pay,)  were 
also  taken.  Two  lieutenants,  and  another  brother 
of  Apostol,  were  among  the  slain,  not  to  speak  of 
the  privates  killed  and  wounded.  Not  a  drop  of 
blood  was  lost  on  the  imperial  side. 

Mouravieff  Apostol,  the  martyr  of  liberty,  as 
Hordynski  calls  him,  who  made  use  of  one  broth- 
er's name  to  dethrone  the  other,  was  hanged  on  a 
gallows  at  St.  Petersburg. 

This  base  conspiracy  has  greatly  retarded  the 
progress  of  liberty  among  the  nobility,  and  has 
been  advantageous  in  the  same  degree  to  the  myr- 
iads of  the  true  people.  The  severity  of  the  re- 
strictions on  travel,  which  has  of  late  been  doubled, 
and  the  censorship  of  the  press,  are  part  of  the 
punishment  brought  on  the  many  by  the  miscon- 
duct of  the  few.  It  was  time  to  close  and  watch 
the  roads  when  every  noble  traveller  carried  a  dis- 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  Ill 

ease  more  dangerous  than  small-pox  or  cholera,  in 
his  own  person  ;  it  was  time  to  stop  the  press  when 
it  fulminated  murder  and  rebellion.  The  relative 
condition  of  the  two  countries  considered,  and 
the  character  of  the  Russo-Polish  conspiracy,  the 
course  of  the  emperor  was  not  half  so  harsh  as  the 
laws  shortly  after  promulgated  in  France,  against 
the  liberty  of  the  press,  on  account  of  the  attempt 
of  a  single,  obscure  scoundrel.  In  no  other  coun- 
try would  such  a  conspiracy  have  been  so  leniently 
punished  throughout.  Peter  the  Great  was  not 
nigh  so  merciful  with  the  Strelitzes. 

Against  whom,  but  the  factious  nobility,  is  the 
censorship  of  the  press  directed?  Not  the  lower 
classes;  for  they  do  not  read.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Venables,  an  English  clergyman,  certainly  not 
prepossessed  in  favor  of  Russia,  in  his  ''  Domestic 
Scenes,"  treats  the  charges  against  Nicholas  of 
tyranny,  cruelty,  &c.,  in  this  matter,  with  con- 
tempt ;  and  unhesitatingly  asserts  that  the  emperor 
has  secured  the  warm  personal  attachment  of  his 
subjects  by  his  conduct,  and  saved  his  country 
from  anarchy  and  bloodshed. 


112  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 


CHAPTER   V. 

DEATH    OF   THE    EMPEROR    ALEXANDER.  —  RETRO- 
SPECT.—THE   MILITARY   COLONIES. 

The  death  of  Alexander  caused  general  inqui- 
etude throughout  Europe ;  for  it  was  an  event 
that,  it  was  supposed,  would  endanger  the  tran- 
quillity of  his  vast  empire,  and  might  wholly  change 
the  tenor  of  its  foreign  policy.  This  uneasiness 
was  augmented  hy  certain  absurd  rumors,  that  he 
had  come  to  his  death  by  foul  means  —  rumors 
which,  even  now,  are  not  entirely  dissipated,  and 
which,  therefore,  we  think  it  fit  to  refute  by  a 
simple  statement  of  facts. 

Alexander  spent  much  of  the  year  1S25  in  visit- 
ing different  parts  of  his  dominions.  Toward  the 
end  of  autumn,  he  visited  the  Crimea.  His  health 
had  for  some  time  been  giving  way ;  but,  partly 
on  account  of  his  moving  from  place  to  place,  and 
partly  because  there  was  little  communication  be- 
tween Etirope  and  the  parts  of  Russia  where  he 
spent  his  time,  the  failure  of  his  constitution  was 
little  known,  nor  did  the  reports  concerning  his 
health  excite  much  attention. 

He  left  the  port  of  Sebastopol  on  the  10th  of 
November,  after  a  minute  inspection  of  every  thing 
connected  with  his  fleet  on  the  Black  Sea.  On  his 
way  to  Bachtchiserai,  he  felt  a  slight  pain  in  his 
head,  which  he  attributed  to  a  cold;  and,  on  his 
return,  he  made  arrangements  to  travel  along  the 
shore  of  the  Sea  of  Azof  on  horseback.  He  stopped 
at  Taganrog,  a  town  situated  on  the  brink  of  a  very 
lofty  promontory,  which  commands  an  extensive 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  113 

prospect  of  that  sea,  and  of  the  European  coast,  to 
the  mouths  of  the  Don.  On  his  arrival  there,  he 
felt  too  ill  to  proceed,  and  wrote  so  to  the  empress 
mother.  He  told  her,  however,  that  he  had  noth- 
ing to  fear  from  his  illness,  and  would  take  care 
of  himself.  The  Empress  Elizabeth,  his  wife,  was 
with  him. 

He  had  feverish  symptoms,  and  a  kind  of  ery- 
sipelas in  the  leg.  The  erysipelas  suddenly  dis- 
appeared, and  the  fever  assumed  a  dangerous  as- 
pect. ''  I  shall  share  the  fate  of  my  sister,"  said  he, 
*' who  died  of  an  erysipelas  driven  in."  The  phy- 
sicians thought,  however,  that  this  was  but  a  sub- 
ordinate symptom,  and  that  the  emperor's  disease 
was  a  gastric  bilious  fever,  of  the  same  character 
as  that  which  often  rages  in  those  regions. 

On  the  18th,  he  was  better;  but  soon  sank 
again.  He  became  delirious  on  the  27th ;  and, 
though  the  medical  treatment  he  received  was 
apparently  successful  for  the  next  two  days,  the 
appearance  proved  fallacious.  He  died,  calmly 
and  without  pain,  on  the  1st  of  December. 

A  few  hours  before  his  last,  he  had  the  blinds 
of  his  window  opened,  and  exclaimed,  as  he 
looked  on  the  cloudless  sky  of  the  Crimea,  "  What 
a  lovely  day  !  " 

The  empress  seldom  left  his  pillow  during  his 
illness.  When  he  had  breathed  his  last,  she  washed 
his  face  and  hands,  closed  his  eyes,  crossed  his 
hands  on  his  bosom,  and  then  fainted.  While  his 
fate  was  yet  doubtful,  she  wrote  as  follows  to  the 
empress  mother :  — 

"  Dear  Mother :  —  I  was  not  in  a  state  to  write 
to    you  by  the  courier   of  yesterday.     To-day,  a 
thousand  and  a  thousand  thanks  to  the  Supreme 
10* 


114  VINDICATION    or    RUSSIA    AND 

Being!  —  there  is  decidedly  a  very  great  improve- 
ment in  the  health  of  the  emperor  —  of  that  angel 
of  benevolence  in  the  midst  of  his  sufferings.  For 
whom  should  God  manifest  his  infinite  mercy,  if 
not  for  him?  O  my  God,  what  moments  of  afflic- 
tion have  I  passed!  and  you,  dear  mother,  I  can 
picture  to  myself  your  uneasiness.  You  receive 
the  bulletins.  You  have,  therefore,  seen  to  what 
a  state  we  were  yesterday  reduced,  and  still  more 
last  night;  but  Wylie,  (an  English  physician,)  to- 
day, says  himself  that  the  state  of  our  dear  patient 
is  satisfactory.  He  is  exceedingly  weak.  Dear 
mother,  I  confess  to  you  that  I  am  not  myself,  and 
that  I  can  say  no  more.  Pray  with  us — with  fifty 
millions  of  men  —  that  God  may  deign  to  com- 
plete the  cure  of  our  well-beloved  patient. 

"Elizabeth." 

Thus  died,  in  the  forty-eighth  year  of  his  age, 
a  sovereign  whom  the  world  ranks  among  the  best 
of  princes,  both  as  regards  his  public  and  private 
character.  He  had  accomplishments  that  would 
have  distinguished  any  man  in  common  life  ;  his 
temper  was  equable,  and  he  was,  therefore,  beloved 
in  social  intercourse.  He  was  a  most  dutiful  and 
affectionate  son.  The  empress  enjoyed  his  confi- 
dence, and  he  always  treated  her  with  kindness  and 
respect.  He  was,  like  his  successor,  indefatigable 
in  business,  and  honestly  and  diligently  zealous  for 
the  improvement  of  his  people.  In  the  most  try- 
ing situations,  (and  he  was  often  placed  in  them,)  he 
always  conducted  with  firmness,  prudence,  and  mod- 
eration. No  man  was  ever  intrusted  with  greater 
power  ;  and  by  no  man  was  power  ever  less  abused. 

"  The  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them,"  says 
the  inspired  poet.     Alexander  reversed  the  prover- 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  115 

bial  line  ;  the  good  he  did  lives  after  him,  and  will, 
while  Russia  and  Poland  remain  parts  of  terra firma. 
We  have  already  recorded  his  noblest  panegyric, 
his  efforts  to  emancipate  the  bondsmen  of  Russia ; 
but  that  is  not  all  the  good  he  did. 

He  founded,  or  remodelled,  seven  universities, 
two  hundred  and  four  academies,  many  seminaries 
for  the  instruction  of  teachers,  and  upwards  of  two 
thousand  schools  on  the  Lancasterian  plan. 

He  gave  important  aid  to  the  Bible  societies,  and 
granted  important  privileges  to  Jews  who  became 
Christians. 

He  abolished  the  custom  of  branding,  and  slitting 
the  nostrils,  connected  with  the  knout.  Knouted 
criminals  are  now  branded  with  a  cold  iron. 

He  also  abolished  the  secret  court,  as  it  was 
called,  to  which  political  criminals  were  brought, 
and  compelled,  by  hunger  and  thirst,  to  confess. 

He  extended  the  privilege  of  the  nobles  —  that 
their  estates  could  not  be  forfeited  from  their  inno- 
cent families  for  their  crimes  —  to  all  his  subjects. 

He  gave  efficient  aid  to  manufactures  and  com- 
merce, by  introducing  a  more  judicious  tariff ;  and 
he  improved  the  currency  and  finances,  after  the 
establishment  of  a  sinking  fund,  by  the  erection  of 
the  bank  of  the  imperial  chamber,  by  making  Odes- 
sa a  free  port  and  granting  it  other  privileges,  and 
by  providing  continually  for  the  construction  of 
roads  and  canals. 

He  banished  the  Jesuits  from  his  dominions,  be- 
cause they  interfered  with  the  affairs  of  the  govern- 
ment and  disturbed  the  peace  of  families. 

He  granted  to  all  peasants  the  right  of  estab- 
lishing manufactories — aright  confined,  before,  to 
the  nobility  and  merchants  of  the  first  and  second 
classes. 


116  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

He  abolished  the  tax  upon  income  derived  from 
landed  property. 

It  would  require  a  larger  volume  than  this  to  re- 
cord the  tenth  part  of  what  Alexander  did  for  the 
good  of  Russia  and  mankind  ;  but  there  is  one  of 
his  acts  that  merits  more  than  a  passing  notice, 
though  it  has  failed  of  the  whole  of  its  intended 
effect  ;  we  mean  his  gigantic  plan  of  consolidating 
and  amalgamating  the  two  classes  on  which  such  a 
throne  as  the  emperor  of  Russia's  rests  for  support,  — 
the  peasantry  and  the  army. 

After  the  war  with  Napoleon,  the  immense  ex- 
pense of  the  standing  army  of  Russia  became  a 
prime  subject  of  the  emperor's  meditations.  To 
obviate  this  difficulty,  Count  Araktschejeff  coun- 
selled the  emperor  to  quarter  the  soldiery  among  the 
crown  peasants  ;  to  build  military  villages,  and  to 
frame  a  code  of  regulations  for  their  government. 
To  each  house  so  many  acres  of  land  were  to  be 
attached.  In  a  word,  the  crown  peasant  was  to 
become  a  soldier,  and  the  soldier  a  crown  peasant  ; 
both  were  to  aid  in  supporting  themselves  by  culti- 
vating the  soil,  and  both  were  to  be  drilled,  disci- 
plined, and  kept  in  readiness,  as  parts  of  an  army  of 
reserve.  The  recruits  levied  from  the  remote  gov- 
ernments, before  this,  had  been  taken  from  their 
homes  for  an  indefinite  time,  sometimes  for  twenty- 
five  years,  and  often  forgot  all  local  attachments,  and 
even  that  they  had  a  country.  By  this  new  insti- 
tution the  soldier  had  a  home  and  abiding-place, 
a  point  of  departure  and  return  ;  in  time  of  peace 
he  was  provided  for,  and  so  were  his  family  during 
his  absence  in  active  service. 

The  experiment  was  first  tried  at  Novogorod,  in 
such  manner  that,  in  case  the  quartered  soldier 
should  fall  sick  or  die,  the  crown  peasant  could  im- 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  117 

mediately  take  his  place.  Each  chief  colonist  was 
clad  in  uniform,  and  put  in  possession  of  a  house 
and  fifteen  desatines  of  land,  (forty-five  acres,)  for 
which  he  was  to  maintain  one  soldier,  and  his  horse 
if  the  quartered  troops  were  cavalry.  He  was  also 
provided  with  stock  and  farming  implements,  bound 
to  use  them,  and  to  labor  forty-four  days  in  the 
year  for  the  crown,  in  keeping  up  the  roads  and 
contributing  to  the  common  magazine  ;  after  which, 
the  surplus  produce  was  at  his  disposal.  The  quar- 
tered soldier  is  called  an  agricultural  soldier  and  as- 
sistant, and  is  required  to  assist  in  the  labors  of  the 
farm.  He  also  selects  one  of  his  family,  his  son  or 
brother,  as  a  second  assistant,  who,  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  colonel  of  his  regiment,  (which  depends 
on  his  good  behavior,)  inherits  his  real  estate  at  his 
decease.  The  second  son,  or  some  other  relation, 
belongs  to  the  reserve,  and  also  dwells  in  the  house  ; 
the  third  is  likewise  an  agricultural  soldier ;  the 
other  members  of  the  family  are  called  cantonists. 

The  boys  remain  with  their  parents  till  they  are 
eight  years  old,  when  they  are  sent  to  the  military 
schools,  to  be  prepared  for  their  future  vocation. 
At  thirteen  they  become  cantonists,  and  are  at  the 
same  time  educated  and  trained  as  soldiers  and 
cultivators.  They  become  agricultural  soldiers  at 
seventeen,  and  members  of  the  colony. 

Each  colony  has  its  court  of  justice,  in  which  the 
senior  officer  presides. 

The  girls  are  bred  in  separate  schools,  and  very 
seldom  marry  any  other  than  a  soldier.  No  person 
is  allowed  to  come  within  the  military  district  with- 
out a  pass  from  the  military  authorities.  The 
peasants'  houses  are  committed  to  the  care  of  the 
soldiers. 

After  spending  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  years 


118  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

in  service,  the  agricultural  soldier  may  retire  from 
his  double  duty,  or  become  an  invalid,  when  his 
place  is  taken  by  one  of  the  reserve. 

We  have  no  data  from  which  to  determine  to 
what  extent  this  system  now  is  or  will  be  carried. 
In  1824,  the  mihtary  colonies  formed  a  chain  of  de- 
fence across  the  western  frontier  of  Russia,  her  only 
assailable  side,  from  the  Black  Sea  to  the  Baltic, 
in  which  all  male  children  were  born  soldiers,  and 
so  remained  from  seventeen  to  sixty.  The  colo- 
nists were  duly  divided  and  officered  as  regiments 
and  companies ;  a  part  of  the  crown  lands  is  set 
apart  for  their  maintenance,  and  on  it  they  support 
themselves  during  peace.  In  active  service,  they 
receive  pay.  It  was  calculated  then  (in  1824)  that 
the  military  colonists  numbered  three  hundred  thou- 
sand men,  of  which  one  half  were  at  all  times  ready 
and  fit  for  active  service — probably  an  over-estimate. 

In  the  same  year,  Russia  had  a  standing  army  of 
three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  infantry  and 
artillery,  and  forty  thousand  cavalry.  General  Arak- 
tschejefF  remained  commander-in-chief  till  his  death, 
and  all  the  cantonists  in  the  preparatory  schools 
were  made  subordinate  to  him. 

Under  this  system,  the  old  system  of  recruiting  the 
army  by  conscription  must  necessarily  fall  somewhat 
into  disuse.  A  considerable  number  of  cantonists  en- 
ter the  service  every  year,  in  place  of  those  of  the  re- 
serve who  have  been  drafted  to  fill  the  places  of  the 
agricultural  soldiers,  and  the  boys  of  the  schools  take 
the  places  vacated  by  the  cantonists.  The  money 
obtained  from  the  several  governments  for  the  re- 
lease of  recruits  is  applied  to  the  education  and  sup- 
port of  the  boys  and  cantonists.  The  proprietors 
of  ten  governments  were  released  from  the  obliga- 
tion of  furnishing  recruits,  in  1823,  on  payment  of 


THE  EMPEROR  NICHOLAS.  119 

stated  sums.  Thirty-five  hundred  of  these  re- 
leases, at  2000  rubles  each,  produced  7,000,000 
of  rubles.  In  1822,  the  expenditure  on  the  mili- 
tary colonies  was  4,962,775  rubles,  and  the  total 
cost,  from  the  time  of  their  organization  to  1824, 
amounted  to  115,780,115.  Four  of  the  six  millions 
of  crown  peasants  were  then  sufficient  to  provide 
quarters  for  the  whole  army,  and  the  result  of  the 
whole  arrangement  was,  that,  beside  six  or  seven 
hundred  thousand  regular  troops,  Russia,  in  case  of 
need,  would  have  had  a  considerable  army  of  reserve 
ready  for  service,  disciplined  in  the  best  possible 
manner.  Such  was  the  state  of  things  in  1824. 
It  has  been  greatly  improved  by  the  Emperor 
Nicholas. 

The  experiment,  as  a  whole,  has  proved  a  failure. 
No  man  can  work  well  at  two  trades  at  once.  In 
proportion  as  a  soldier  becomes  attached  to  home 
and  family,  he  is  unwilling  to  leave  them,  and  im- 
patient of  control.  Discontent  has  always  prevailed, 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  in  the  military  colonies, 
and  mutiny  has  not  been  unknown  in  them. 


120  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 


CHAPTER   YI. 

CAUSES   OF   THE   POLISH   INSURRECTION.  —  MAJOR 
TOCHMAN'S    TRACT. 

We  ask  what  caused  the  Polish  insurrection  of 
1830,  and  the  universal  reply  is  —  the  tyrannical 
grand  duke  and  the  despot  Nicholas.  We  ask 
for  the  grievances  of  the  Poles ;  and  one  writer 
tells  us  of  arbitrary  arrests  and  punishments ; 
another  talks  of  the  restriction  of  the  press ;  and 
a  third  gravely  informs  us  that  the  system  of  es- 
pionage was  intolerable ;  —  just  as  if  we  had  lost 
our  memories,  and  had  never  heard  of  Fouche 
and  Marion  de  I'Orme,  of  Savary,  and  Sartines, 
and  D'Argenson.  Hear,  now,  what  one  of  these 
sympathetic  mourners  says  on  this  head. 

"  When  a  fundamental  change  has  taken  place 
in  the  government  of  a  country,  and  a  numerous 
party  exists,  not  constituting  what  is  called,  in  free 
governments,  an  opposition,  but  actually  striving  to 
overthrow  the  established  order,  —  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, a  secret  police  may,  perhaps,  be  ad- 
missible, as  poisons  are  prescribed  in  some  dreadful 
diseases,  producing  bad  effects,  undoubtedly,  but 
preventing  worse." 

Was  not  this  precisely  the  condition  of  Poland  ? 
Where,  and  by  what  sovereign,  was  a  secret  police 
ever  needed,  if  not  by  the  Emperor  Nicholas,  when 
a  conspiracy  had  broken  out  in  both  his  kingdoms, 
extending  to  thousands,  and  affecting,  not  only  his 
authority,  but  his  liberty,  and  his  very  life  ?  To 
complain  that  he  used  the  means  in  his  power  to 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  121 

detect  and  destroy  the  ringleaders  of  a  sedition 
that  threatened  the  destruction  of  peace  and  order 
among  sixty-one  millions  of  people,  and  of  his 
own  family,  is  to  suppose  him  more  purely  brutish 
than  the  porcupine:  even  he  erects  his  quills  when 
assailed.  Arbitrary  arrests  and  punishments !  Who 
—  we  do  not  say  what  sovereign  —  stops  to  con- 
sider whether  the  man  who  holds  a  dagger  to  his 
breast  means  innocently  or  not,  or  whether  he  acts 
most  lawfully  himself  in  knocking  him  down  with 
his  fist  or  an  iron  bar  ?  '^  Warsaw  was  made  one 
vast  prison !  "  What  wonder,  when  almost  every 
noble  in  it  was  a  disturber  of  the  peace  or  a  con- 
spirator ! 

''The  news  of  Alexander's  death,"  says  Hor- 
dynski,  "  stunned,  at  first,  the  patriotic  club  in 
Petersburg.  Nevertheless,  they  resolved  to  act. 
They  hoped  to  profit  by  the  troubles,  between 
Nicholas  and  Constantine,  about  the  succession. 
On  the  18th  of  December  of  the  same  year,  the 
signal  for  revolt  was  given  in  Petersburg.  Some 
regiments  of  the  guard  were  on  the  side  of  the 
patriots,  and  with  them  assembled  great  numbers 
of  the  people,  ready  to  fight  for  liberty.  Yet  all 
this  was  done  without  sufiicient  energy,  and  with- 
out good  leaders.  It  was  unfortunate  that,  at  the 
time.  Colonel  Pestel  —  acknowledged  by  all  to  be 
a  man  of  great  talents  and  energy  —  happened  to 
be  absent  in  Moscow. 

"  The  people  assembled  in  their  holy  cause ; 
but,  being  without  leaders,  began  to  fall  into  dis- 
order, and  a  few  discharges  of  cannon  were  suffi- 
cient to  disperse  them.  As  the  Grand  Duke 
Constantine,  on  account  of  his  marriage  with  a 
noble  Polish  lady,  Grudzinska,  in  1823,  was 
obliged  to  renounce  the  throne  of  Russia,  the  im- 
11 


122 


VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 


perial  power  was,  by  a  written  document,  given  to 
the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas,  as  the  eldest  in  succes- 
sion after  him." 

Some  companies  of  the  guard,  wrought  upon,  we 
may  be  sure,  by  the  conspirators,  had  taken  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  Constantine  immediately  after 
the  death  of  Alexander,  and  were  now  required  to 
take  it  to  Nicholas.  They  refused ;  and  the  mu- 
tiny was  blended  with  the  rebellion, — or  rather 
riot, — which  lasted  an  entire  day,  and  was  sup- 
pressed, first  by  the  firmness  of  Nicholas,  who 
mowed  down  one  or  two  companies  of  the  muti- 
neers with  grape  shot,  and  then  by  his  moderation. 
He  arrested  the  ringleaders,  and  dispersed  and  par- 
doned their  deluded  followers. 

It  proved,  on  investigation,  that  this  conspiracy 
had  existed  for  years,  and  was  founded  partly  on 
crude  ideas  of  liberty  and  equality,  and  partly  on 
the  offended  pride  of  the  nobility ;  offended,  be- 
cause, from  Ivan  Vassilievitsch  downward,  the 
constant  effort  of  the  czars  had  been  to  diminish 
their  monstrous  power  over  their  serfs,  and  to  in- 
struct their  ignorance.  Compared  with  the  na- 
tions either  of  Poland  or  Russia,  whose  feelings 
they  have  been  sedulously  represented  to  express, 
they  were  but  as  drops  in  the  oceeui,  and  their 
knowledge  —  that  of  the  Russian  rebels,  especial- 
ly —  must  have  been  small  indeed,  if  they  ex- 
pected to  effect  aught  but  their  own  ruin  and  that 
of  their  followers. 

"  All  the  prisons  of  the  realms,"  says  Hordynski, 
in  continuation,  "were  prepared  to  receive  their 
victims.  Over  the  whole  of  Poland  and  Russia 
the  sword  of  cruel  revenge  was  suspended." 

Supposing  all  the  instigators  of  this  criminal 
enterprise  in  every  sense  of  the  word  to  have  been 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  123 

put  to  death,  their  execution  could  not  have  been 
called  injustice,  cruelty,  or  revenge.  As  it  was, 
Nicholas  showed  far  more  moderation  than  most 
other  sovereigns  have  done  in  like  circumstances. 
Five  only  of  the  noble  Russian  Jack  Cades,  (mar- 
tyrs of  liberty,  Hordynski  calls  them,)  taken  in 
open  battle,  with  arms  in  their  hands,  were  hanged, 
as  they  deserved ;  and  a  few  hundreds  were  sent  to 
Siberia. 

At  Warsaw,  the  trials  of  the  conspirators  were, 
perhaps,  conducted  more  harshly,  as  might  have 
been  expected  from  the  temper  of  the  Grand  Duke 
Constantine,  who  tried  them,  and  who  was  the 
principal  object  of  their  hatred.  Senator  Soltyk, 
undeniably  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  conspiracy, 
was,  perhaps,  flogged  with  the  knout ;  in  consid- 
eration of  his  years,  his  life  was  spared.  Kryzan- 
ouski,  another  of  them,  committed  suicide,  Hordyn- 
ski says,  to  avoid  torture,  which  had  been  abolished 
by  Catherine  half  a  century  before ;  but  more 
probably,  to  escape  the  gallows,  to  which  his 
fellows  were  sentenced.  The  senate,  however,  by 
a  commission  of  which  they  were  tried,  contrary, 
as  the  Encyclopaedia  Americana  informs  us,  to  the 
provisions  of  the  senate,  commuted  their  sentence 
to  a  few  years'  imprisonment. 

Of  this  infamous  conspiracy,  Fletcher,  the  source 
from  which  we  Americans  have  gotten  all  our  ideas 
of  Poland  and  Nicholas,  speaks  in  the  terms  pres- 
ently to  follow.  It  is  true  that  the  statement  is 
not  Fletcher's  own,  but  is  borrowed  from  some 
nameless  scribbler  in  the  Metropolitan  Magazine ; 
but,  as  he  incorporates  it  into  his  book  without 
note  or  comment,  he  endorses  it,  and  is  particeps 
criminis  in  spreading  false  reports.  The  reader 
will  observe  that  this  anonymous  writer  is  flatly 


124  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

contradicted  by  the  confessions  of  Hordynski,  a 
Pole,  who,  having  been  an  actor  in  what  he  de- 
scribes, may  certainly  be  believed  when  he  crimi- 
nates his  own  party,  conceiving  that  he  is  honoring 
it  by  so  doing.  We  should  not  quote  from  Fletch- 
er, (believing  his  speculations,  original  or  borrowed, 
wholly  unworthy  of  attention,)  but  that  his  words 
serve  £ls  an  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which 
sympathy  for  Poland  has  been  uniformly  and  sys- 
tematically "  got  up." 

''  The  Grand  Duke  Constantine,  who  has  played 
so  conspicuous  a  part  in  the  affairs  of  Poland,  is  wor- 
thy of  something  more  than  a  mere  passing  notice. 
Though  possessed  of  considerable  talents,  he  is,  in 
fact,  an  untamed  tiger,  giving  way  on  all  occasions 
to  the  most  violent  paroxysms  of  temper.  He  has 
a  deep  sense  of  the  rights  of  his  order,  and  holds 
the  feelings  of  every  other  class  as  absolutely 
nought.  So  soon,  therefore,  as  he  found  that  his 
imperial  brother  was  no  longer  the  liberal  patron 
of  constitutional  rights,  he  gave  the  most  unre- 
strained license  to  his  capricious  and  violent  injus- 
tice," &c.  &c. 

''  But,  notwithstanding  these  increasing  grounds 
of  dissatisfaction,  nay,  of  deep  and  unqualified  ab- 
horrence, the  good  sense  of  the  associated  regenera- 
tors of  their  country's  freedom  prevailed  over  their 
excited  feelings.  The  ferocity  of  the  unprincipled 
savage  but  continued  them  in  the  path  of  duty,  and 
in  the  necessity  of  the  utmost  caution.  Yet  thus 
rendered  circumspect,  they  never  forgot  that  these 
practical  illustrations  of  tyranny  imposed  upon 
them  additional  and  more  urgent  duties  to  their 
country.  Under  these  convictions  they  restricted 
their  operations  to  the  most  narrow  limit,  and  noth- 
ing beyond  Poland  and  Poles  was  ever  regarded 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  125 

in  even  a  speculative  view.  Yet,  in  spite  of  all 
this  caution,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  Russian 
conspiracy,  after  the  death  of  Alexander,  in  favor 
of  Constantino,  in  opposition  to  his  younger  broth- 
er, the  present  emperor,  attempts  were  made  to 
connect  the  Polish  association  with  the  Russian 
revolt." 

We  have  no  doubt  that  this  falsehood  was  penned 
deliberately,  and  with  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the 
true  state  of  facts.  The  author  of  it  deserves 
credit  for  his  ingenuity,  at  least.  There  is  no  way 
of  lying  so  sure  to  mislead,  as  the  blending  of  so 
much  undeniable  truth  with  falsehood  as  will  rec- 
oncile probabilities;  and  this  can  only  be  done 
with  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  case,  which,  it 
is  evident,  this  writer  possesses.  Such  special 
pleading  as  his  has,  at  all  events,  been  successful  in 
prejudicing  both  England  and  the  United  States 
against  the  Emperor  Nicholas. 

There  was  no  need  to  attempt  to  justify  the  re- 
bellious Poles :  the  work  was  done  to  his  hand. 
We  look  upon  the  partition  of  Poland  as  the  most 
fortunate  event  that  ever  happened  to  that  country. 
One  incontestable  wrong  has  constituted  an  excuse 
for  any  wrongs  the  Polish  aristocracy  may  commit, 
from  that  time  forth  forever.  It  is  like  the  Catholic 
church's  inexhaustible  stock  of  merits.  Such  is 
the  feeling  of  all  mankind.  A  Pole  can  do  no 
wrong,  because  his  grandfather  has,  perhaps,  been 
wronged ;  for  the  dear,  gullible  public  seldom  look 
beneath  the  surface  of  foreign  soils. 

''  Under  this  pretext,"  the  same  writer  continues, 
''an  immense  number  of  the  association,  already 
in  bad  odor  from  having  been  denounced  by  Alex- 
ander, were  arrested.  The  most  chosen  victims 
were  persons  eminent  for  their  rank,  attainments, 
11* 


126  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

virtues,  and  patriotism  ;  not  that  noisy  and  pre- 
sumptuous quality,  miscalled  patriotism,  which  dis- 
plays itself  in  idle  declamation  and  useless  turbu- 
lence, but  in  that  silent  devotion  to  the  best  interests 
of  their  country,  illustrated  by  improving  its  con- 
dition, and  by  promoting  every  measure  calculated 
to  benefit  the  people.  The  individuals  so  arrested 
were  declared,  by  an  imperial  ordinance,  to  be  guilty, 
in  defiance  of  an  acquittal  by  the  senate,  which 
alone  could  legally  investigate  the  charges.  The 
imperial  edict  then  issued,  condemning  the  accused 
to  imprisonment,  exile,  and  every  penalty  that  un- 
principled caprice  could  suggest.  In  this  career  of 
criminal  folly  a  singular  step  was  taken.  The 
whole  of  the  offences  were  published,  the  defence 
suppressed." 

Here  are  two  palpable  lies,  with  two  circum- 
stances. The  accused  were  tried,  as  the  constitu- 
tion directed,  by  a  court  consisting  of  senators,  all 
Poles  themselves,  though  Hordynski  says  they 
were  in  the  Russian  interest.  It  was  called  the  su- 
preme court  of  the  diet,  and  its  president  was  Count 
Vicenti  Krasinski,  whom  even  Hordynski  describes 
as  '•  a  m^n  of  great  merit,  a  brave  soldier,  as  well 
as  a  good  citizen,  who  had  been  faithful  to  his 
country  for  fifty  years,  had  made  for  it  the  greatest 
sacrifices,  and  was  regarded  by  the  soldiers  as  a 
father,  and  very  much  beloved  by  the  nation." 

The  accused  were  charged  with  nothing  but 
conspiracy  and  rebellion,  which  they  did  not  deny  ; 
and,  if  their  defences  were  not  published,  it  was 
because  they  sought  not  to  repel  the  charges  against 
them,  but  to  justify  their  conduct,  and  hold  it  up 
as  an  example  to  others  ;  or,  as  their  counsel  above 
cited  has  it,  ''  as  these  offences  (conspiracy  and  re- 
bellion) involved  only  what  every  Pole  felt  to  be  a 


THE    Ex>IPEROR    NICHOLAS.  127 

sacred  duty,"  &c.  Can  any  one  wonder  that  the 
emperor  was  unwilling  his  subjects  should  be 
taught  that  to  subvert  his  throne,  and  destroy  his 
life,  were  sacred  duties? 

The  prisoners  were  not  pronounced  guilty  by  the 
emperor's  ordinance,  nor  were  they  illegally  tried. 
The  second  section  of  the  seventy-sixth  article  of 
the  charter  expressly  provided,  that  the  execution 
of  the  laws  "  shall  be  intrusted  to  the  commission 
of  justice,  chosen  from  the  members  of  the  supreme 
tribunal,"  meaning  the  senate ;  and  the  commission 
of  justice  which  tried  the  accused  (which  Fletcher 
calls  the  supreme  court  of  the  senate,  and  Hordyn- 
ski  the  supreme  court  of  the  diet)  was  so  chosen. 
The  Pole  does  not  say  that  these  prisoners  had  not 
the  full  benefit  of  the  law  ;  though  his  language  in- 
fers it.  He  says  that  the  procurator-general  (an- 
swering to  our  attorney-general)  "sentenced  all 
who  were  condemned  (that  is,  found  guilty)  to 
death,  to  be  hanged  and  exposed  on  a  wheel."  It 
is  difficult  to  penetrate  the  obscurity  of  Hordynski's 
style,*  and  equally  so  to  unravel  the  tangled  skein 
of  his  confused  ideas  ;  but  we  suppose  he  means,  if 
he  means  any  thing,  that  the  prosecuting  officer 
urged  the  strict  observance  of  the  law  against  high 
treason,  as  it  was  his  duty  to  do,  and  just  as  our 
attorney-general  would  have  done. 

It  seems,  too,  that,  whatever  the  sentences  of 
the  prisoners  may  have  been,  whether  "imprison- 
ment, exile,"  or  "  every  penalty  that  tyrannical  ca- 
price could  suggest,"  they  did  not  emanate  from 
the  emperor ;  or  that,  if  they  did,  they  were  not 
final  and  without  appeal ;  for  the  senate  had  power 

*  Hordynski  wrote  in  Polish,  which  he  translated  into  bad 
French,  as  he  wrote,  which  was  rendered  into  English  by  a  perbon 
whose  knowledge  of  French  was  about  equal  to  his  own. 


128  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

to,  and  did,  commute  them  —  the  president  of  the 
commission  of  justice,  the  worthy  and  well-beloved 
Krasinski,  only,  voting  in  the  negative. 

With  regard  to  the  ferocity,  cruelty,  and  barbari- 
ty, of  the  "  untamed  tiger,  the  unprincipled  sav- 
age," the  Grand  Duke  Constantino,  in  the  absence 
of  all  proof  for  disinterested  evidence,  we  have 
but  one  fact  to  state.  This  tiger  and  savage  slept, 
nightly,  in  the  outskirts  of  the  city  he  is  accused 
of  outraging  in  every  possible  manner,  in  the  midst 
of  a  populace  goaded  to  madness  by  his  cruelty, 
without  guards,  though  he  had  three  Russian  regi- 
ments at  hand  !  Certainly,  he  was  either  the  most 
courageous  or  the  most  stupid  tyrant  that  ever 
reigned ;  or  he  was,  as  we  think,  a  very  passion- 
ate man,  as  the  sympathizers  aver,  but  not  a  ty- 
rant at  all.  His  usual  practice  was  to  rise  at 
four,  and  appear  among  the  troops,  and  in  public, 
till  two,  his  dinner  hour;  after  which  he  slept 
four  or  five  hours,  and  then  gave  the  evening  to 
amusement. 

It  is  admitted,  on  all  hands,  that  a  secret  polit- 
ical society  had  existed  in  Poland  from  the  year 
1821,  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  over  the  officers, 
civil  and  military,  to  revolutionary  views ;  an  as- 
sociation similar  in  most,  if  not  in  all  respects,  to 
the  Carbonari  in  Italy,  and  the  Tugenbund  in 
Prussia.  To  their  exertions  was  owing  the  in- 
surrection of  1830.  It  was  hurried,  however,  to 
a  premature  explosion  by  the  emperor's  prepara- 
tions for  war  on  France  and  Belgium,  and  the 
discontent  of  the  inhabitants  of  Warsaw  at  hav- 
ing the  troops  billeted  upon  them.  '*  Of  this  dis- 
content the  '  patriots '  made  use,  in  endeavoring 
to  propagate  their  views  of  the  necessity  of  a 
revolution."      Seditious    placards  were  posted  at 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  129 

every  corner.  "  The  holy  moment  was  now  fast 
approaching,  and  Warsaw  was  in  anxious  expec- 
tation." 

The  event  that  was  the  immediate  cause  of  the 
revolt  is  variously  stated.  We  have  not  the  Rus- 
sian version  of  it. 

One  author  (Fletcher's  authority)  says,  ''The 
police  of  the  grand  duke,  ever  on  the  alert  to 
render  themselves  acceptable  to  their  master,  by 
affording  him  objects  on  which  he  might  wreak 
his  ruthless  passions,  planned  an  association  for 
the  purpose  of  involving  the  most  respectable  and 
distinguished  persons  in  Poland ;  and  for  that  pur- 
pose inveigled  a  number  of  ardent  youths,  just 
after  the  revolution  in  Paris,  to  attend  meetings, 
and  to  avow  patriotic  opinions.  The  prime  con- 
spirator, either  from  indolence,  or  a  belief  that 
there  might  be  danger  in  devising  a  new  or- 
ganization for  the  association,  used  that  which 
had  been  discovered  during  the  early  proceedings 
against  the  patriots.  A  copy  of  this  scheme  falling 
into  the  hands  of  some  of  the  members  of  the  ac- 
tual association,  excited  a  suspicion  that  they  had 
been  betrayed ;  and  the  recollection  of  former 
horrors  decided  them  to  take  immediate  measures 
for  liberating  themselves  from  their  detestable 
thraldom. 

"Constantino  had  established  a  school  for  the 
education  of  inferior  officers,  with  a  view  to  de- 
stroying the  national  character  in  the  army.  The 
numbers  at  this  establishment  were,  at  this  time, 
180,  of  whom  not  more  than  six  or  eight  were 
parties  to  the  association.  These,  however,  early 
on  the  evening  of  the  day  already  mentioned,  went 
into  their  barrack,  addressed  their  comrades,  ex- 
plained their  views,  and,  without  a  single  dissen- 


130  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

tient,  — not  even  excepting  one  individual  who  was 
sick  in  bed,  —  they  armed  themselves,  and  com- 
menced their  operations." 

Another  says,  "It  appears  that  it  (the  revolt) 
was  immediately  occasioned  by  a  sham  conspiracy, 
got  up  by  the  Russian  police,  who  had  thus  in- 
duced a  number  of  young  men  to  betray  them- 
selves, and  crowded  the  prisons  with  the  victims. 
Not  only  the  Polish  officers,  the  youth  of  the 
military  school,  and  the  students,  had  been  gained 
over  to  the  cause  of  the  patriots,  but  the  greater 
part  of  the  citizens ;  and  the  chief  nobles  were 
ready  to  encourage  an  effort  to  save  themselves 
from  what  they  now  foresaw  —  the  occupation  of 
Poland  by  a  Russian  army,  and  the  marching  of 
the  Polish  troops  to  the  south  of  Europe.  Such 
was  the  state  of  things  when  the  insurrection  at 
Warsaw  broke  out. 

"  A  young  officer  entered  the  military  school,  on 
the  evening  of  that  day,  and  called  the  youth  to 
arms.  They  immediately  proceeded,  and  were 
joined,  on  their  way,  by  the  students  of  the 
university.  Another  party  of  cadets  and  students 
paraded  the  streets,  calling  the  citizens  to  arms, 
and  they  were  joined  by  the  Polish  troops." 

A  third  very  enthusiastic  sympathizer  says, 
"  On  the  first  of  December,  the  Russian  superin- 
tendent of  the  school  for  military  engineers  at 
Warsaw,  where  some  hundreds  of  the  Polish  youth 
were  educated,  had  the  insolence  to  order  two  of 
the  young  officers  to  be  corporally  punished.  The 
students  instantly  rose  against  the  author  of  the 
indignity,  drove  him  out,  and  rushed  to  the  quar- 
ters of  a  regiment  of  the  native  guards,  calling  oil 
them  to  rise  against  the  oppressors.  The  troops 
immediately  followed  the  call  —  the  spirit  spread  — 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  13^1 

the  Russian  soldiers   were  every  where  gallantly 
and  instantly  attacked,  and  routed." 

Hordynski's  edition  differs  materially  from  these 
three  discrepant  ones,  and  is  about  as  likely  to  be 
correct,  or  inaccurate,  as  either.  "An  event  which 
served  to  irritate  all  minds,  and  hasten  the  revolu- 
tion, was  the  arrest  and  imprisonment  of  eighty 
students.  These  brave  young  men  were  assembled 
in  a  private  house,  in  order  to  pray  to  God  in  se- 
cret for  the  souls  of  their  murdered  ancestors,  on 
the  anniversary  of  the  storming  of  Praga,  by 
the  bloody  Suwarrow,  in  1796,  when  none  were 
spared,  when  Praga  swam  with  blood,  and  was 
strewed  with  the  corpses  of  thirty  thousand  in- 
habitants. In  memory  of  this  event,  the  patriots 
had  met  almost  every  year  for  secret  prayer, 
since  public  devotions  on  the  occasion  had  been 
forbidden  by  the  grand  duke.  The  above-men- 
tioned students,  with  some  priests,  were  in  the  act 
of  worship,  praying  to  the  Almighty,  and  honoring 
the  memory  of  their  forefathers,  when  the  doors 
were  broken  open  with  great  violence,  and  a  num- 
ber of  gendarmes,  under  their  captain,  Jurgasko, 
with  a  company  of  Russian  soldiers  behind  them, 
entered  the  apartment.  Our  brave  youths  continued 
their  prayers  upon  their  knees  about  the  altar,  and 
in  that  position  suffered  themselves  to  be  bound, 
and  dragged  away  to  prison.  The  news  of  this 
outrage  was  spread  through  Warsaw  with  the 
quickness  of  lightning,  and  it  thrilled  every  heart. 
This  was  the  occasion  for  fixing  upon  the  29th  of 
November  as  the  day  for  commencing  the  revolu- 
tion, when  the  4th  Polish  regiment,  many  of  the 
officers  of  which  were  among  the  initiated,  were 
to  mount  guard  in  Warsaw." 

It  seems,  then,  that  the  outbreak  did  not  origi- 


132  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

nate  with  the  military  students ;  but  had  long  been 
planned  and  premeditated. 

''  The  patriots  assembled  early  in  the  morning 
of  the  29th  of  November,  to  renew  their  oaths,  and 
ask  the  blessing  of  the  Almighty  on  their  great 
undertaking.  The  moment  approached.  Seven 
in  the  evening  was  the  hour  appointed  for  the 
commencement  of  the  revolution.  The  signal 
agreed  upon  was,  that  a  wooden  house  should  be 
set  on  fire  in  Szulec  Street,  near  the  Yistula.  The 
patriots  were  scattered  over  the  city,  ready  to  stir  up 
the  people  on  the  appearance  of  the  signal.  Most 
of  them  were  young  men,  and  students.  Some  hun- 
dred and  twenty  students,  who  were  to  make  the 
beginning,  were  assembled  in  the  southern  part  of 
Warsaw.  All  was  ready.  At  the  stroke  of  seven, 
as  soon  as  the  flame  of  the  house  was  seen  reflected 
on  the  sky,  many  brave  students,  and  some  offi- 
cers, rode  through  the  streets  of  that  part  of  the  city 
called  the  Old  Town,  shouting,  '  Poles  !  brethren  ! 
the  hour  of  vengeance  has  struck.  The  time  to 
revenge  the  tortures  and  cruelties  of  fifteen  years 
is  come.  Down  with  the  tyrants !  To  arras, 
brethren,  to  arms  !     Our  country  forever !  '  " 

What  followed  is  known  to  the  world.  Eigh- 
teen days  after,  the  Emperor  Nicholas  issued  a  proc- 
lamation, declaring  that  no  concessions  would  be 
made  to  the  rebels,  and  another  to  the  Russians, 
telling  them  that  the  Poles  had  dared  to  propose 
conditions  to  their  legitimate  sovereign.  "  God  is 
with  us,"  he  added,  ''  and,  in  a  single  battle,  we 
shall  be  able  to  reduce  these  disturbers  of  the 
peace  to  submission."  This  resolution  was  long 
debated  in  the  Russian  senate,  and  it  was  not 
without  extreme  reluctance  that  Nicholas  issued  his 
manifesto,  and  resolved  on  rigorous  measures.     We 


THE  EMPEROR  NICHOLAS.  133 

have  it  on  the  authority  of  an  American  gentle- 
man, then  residing  \n  St.  Petersburg,  that  the  em- 
peror's anxiety  and  sorrow  for  what  had  befallen 
in  Poland  seriously  affected  his  health.  On  the 
24th  of  January,  the  diet  declared  Poland  inde- 
pendent, and  the  throne  vacant. 

On  looking  back  to  the  history  of  the  Rus- 
sian kingdom  of  Poland,  from  1795  to  1830,  the 
most  enthusiastic  sympathizer  is  compelled  to  ad- 
mit that  the  independence  of  the  nation  was  hope- 
lessly destroyed  —  by  whose  fault  or  crime  it  avails 
nothing  to  inquire,  so  far  as  its  restoration  is  con- 
cerned. The  partition  had  been  acquiesced  in  by 
the  world  ;  the  territory  had  been  divided  between 
three  of  the  most  powerful  nations  in  Europe,  from 
whose  grasp  Napoleon  himself  had  not  been  able  to 
wrest  it.  The  Poles  of  Russian  Poland  had  ob- 
tained, under  Alexander  and  Nicholas,  nearly  as 
liberal  a  form  of  government,  and  as  good  laws, 
as  we,  people  of  the  United  States,  have  ourselves. 
They  could  gain  nothing,  collectively,  by  a  change, 
and  we  do  not  believe  the  nation  had  much  to 
complain  of ;  for  we  give  little  faith  to  the  highly- 
wrought  complaints  of  the  defeated  rebels ;  and, 
granting  them  all  to  be  literally  true,  their  wrongs 
were  not  sufficiently  grievous  to  justify  a  desperate 
appeal  to  arms,  in  the  first  resort,  under  the  circum- 
stances. We  do  not  find  any  thing  in  the  charac- 
ter of  Nicholas,  either  as  man  or  sovereign,  to  war- 
rant the  belief  that  he  was  at  all  disposed  to  act 
the  part  of  an  oppressor ;  there  is  not  a  solitary  act 
of  tyranny  imputed  to  him  by  one  of  his  maligners. 
The  worst  that  even  one  of  his  beaten  rebels  can 
say  of  him,  is,  that  ''  he  seemed  to  terrify  every 
one  with  his  very  look.  His  lowering  and  over- 
bearing eye  was  the  true  mirror  of  Asiatic  despot- 
12 


134  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

ism.  Every  movement  was  a  command,  and  his 
imperious  air  was  in  true  harmony  with  the  ruhng 
passion  of  his  mind.  Such  a  sovereign  must  needs 
bring  distress  on  our  country,  acting  through  the 
instrumentality  of  a  brother  Hke  himself." 

We  may  conchide  that  a  man,  or  a  sovereign,  is 
a  tolerably  good  sort  of  a  personage,  when  his  bit- 
terest enemies  can  find  no  fault  with  him  but  his 
looks ;  and  yet,  if  any  man  alive  is  calculated  to 
make  a  favorable  impression  by  his  manners  and 
personal  advantages,  writers  of  all  nations  agree 
that  the  Emperor  Nicholas  is  that  man. 

If  Nicholas  was  difficult  of  access,  and  forbidding 
in  his  manners  to  the  Poles,  Major  Hordynski,  be- 
fore he  condemned  him,  should  have  consulted  the 
history  of  his  country ;  and  there  he  might  have 
read  that  such  things  as  daggers  have  been  worn 
in  Poland.  He  should  have  remembered,  too,  that 
the  first  greeting  the  emperor  received  from  his 
Russian  subjects,  on  his  accession,  was  an  attempt, 
fomented,  sanctioned,  and  shared,  by  Poles,  to  de- 
stroy his  throne  and  life.  Common  sense  might 
have  told  him  that  such  attempts  at  conciliation 
are  not  Calculated  to  inspire  the  person  so  favored 
with  much  benevolence  toward  those  who  make 
them,  though  it  does  not  appear  that  the  Russo- 
Polish  conspiracy  of  1826  ever  dwelt  further  in 
the  emperor's  memory,  so  as  to  affect  his  political 
conduct,  up  to  1830.  The  major  does  not  pre- 
tend that  it  did  ;  he  only  believes  that  such  a  look- 
ing sovereign  "  must  needs  bring  distress  on  his 
country."  We  do  not  see  the  sequence;  and  if 
there  were  one,  ill  looks  are  no  sufficient  cause  for 
rebellion  or  revolution  ;  far  less  for  murder. 

We  do  not  see  that  Nicholas  is  in  fault  for  having 
succeeded  to,  or  for  maintaining,  the  authority  of 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  135 

his  predecessors.  To  go  back  three  reigns  to  inves- 
tigate the  validity  of  his  title,  seems  to  us  very  like 
seeking  for  — 

John  Bull's  title  to  the  sovereignty  of  Ireland, 

Bonaparte's  right  to  the  crown  of  France, 

The  pope's  right  to  his  triple  diadem. 

The  right  of  the  Romans  to  Italy, 

The  right  of  the  imperial  Tartar  to  the  throne 
of  China,   and 

Our  own  right  to  the  soil  of  Massachusetts. 

We  live  not  in  a  world  of  abstractions,  but  of 
stern  realities ;  and  as  things  are  not  as  they  should 
be,  we  must  make  the  best  of  them  as  they  are. 
The  Emperor  Nicholas  has  done  so,  and,  it  seems  to 
us,  he  has  done  wisely.  To  have  acknowledged 
the  independence  of  Poland  would  not  have  bene- 
fited the  Poles,  or  the  world,  but  the  contrary ; 
and  it  would  have  involved  the  retrogression,  if 
not  the  downfall,  of  afar  more  important  nation  — 
Russia. 

It  was  not  the  people  of  Poland  who  sought  to 
shake  off  his  rule  —  there  is  every  reason  to  be- 
lieve they  were  satisfied  with  it :  it  was  but  the 
aristocracy,  the  fourteenth  part  of  the  nation,  seek- 
ing the  restoration  of  their  ancient  consequence  and 
privileges,  in  whose  abolition  and  destruction  every 
good  man  ought  to  rejoice.  Their  success  would 
have  been  a  stab  under  Polish  humanity's  fifth  rib, 
and  the  passing-bell  of  Polish  freedom.  Nicholas 
acted  for  the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number, 
in  opposing  them.  He  acted  like  a  true  soldier,  in 
refusing  to  hear  any  thing  from  rebels  with  arms 
in  their  hands.  The  whole  ^'  head  and  front  of  his 
offending  hath  this  extent,  no  more." 

We  do  not  well  to  give  implicit  credence  to  the 
statements  of  the  missionaries  of  the  Polish  Propa- 


136  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

ganda,  the  burden  of  whose  discourse  is  freedom, 
patriotism,  and  Prince  Adam  Czartoryski. 

"  A  host  of  speculative  writers,"  says  one  of  these 
propagandists,  "have  endeavored  to  impress  the 
public  mind  with  an  idea,  that  the  mass  of  her 
(Poland's)  people,  before  that  event,  (the  triple 
partition,)  were  slaves  or  serfs,  subjected  to  a  few 
nobles.  It  has  been  falsely  asserted,  that  the  Po- 
lish people,  at  this  moment,  under  the  governments 
of  Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia,  are  happier  than 
before  ;  and  that  the  dismemberment  of  their  coun- 
try has  injured  only  the  interests  of  a  few  nobles 
— petty  tyrants." 

Now,  as  we  hope  for  a  better  life,  we  never 
saw  or  heard  the  servitude  of  the  great  mass  of  the 
Poles  disputed  before  we  undertook  to  write  this 
little  volume ;  never  till,  after  having  penned  the 
preceding  pages.  Major  Tochman's  tract  happened 
to  fall  in  our  way.  Every  writer  we  have  con- 
sulted on  the  subject  confirms  it,  and  the  authori- 
ties from  which  we  quote  are  not  a  few.  At  the 
same  time,  we  believe  that  our  view  of  the  rebel- 
lion is  as  new  to  the  Americim,  French,  and  English 
public  at  large,  as  it  was  to  us  two  years  ago,  when 
we  first  began  to  study  and  judge  for  ourself.  It 
seems  to  us  strange,  nay,  surprising,  that  Major 
Tochman  should  have  thought  it  necessary  to 
repel  attacks  that  were  never  made,  or,  if  made, 
were  made  so  feebly  as  to  make  no  impression,  and 
leave  no  trace,  on  the  public  mind.  We  can  only 
account  for  his  thus  begging  the  question  by  sup- 
posing an  hostility  that  does  not  exist  and  fortify- 
ing his  position  before  war  is  declared,  by  suppos- 
ing that  he  feels  its  weakness,  and  that,  being 
himself  a  revolted  Polish  soldier,  and,  of  course,  a 
noble,  he  feels  as  gentlemen  of  loose  morals,  and 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  137 

ladies  of  doubtful  character,  do,  when  the  subjects 
of  honesty  and  chastity  are  mentioned. 

Major  Tochman  is  a  Pole,  and,  of  course,  knows 
more  of  the  condition  of  his  country  than  we  can 
pretend  to  know  ;  but  this  advantage  is  counter- 
balanced by  his  questionable  position  as  a  revolted 
subject,  and  by  the  fact  that  he  is  almost  avow- 
edly a  partisan  of  Prince  Adam  Czartoryski,  and  a 
missionary  of  the  Polish  Propaganda.  These  facts, 
however,  are  not  generally  enough  known  to  have 
their  proper  weight ;  and  we  should  also  recollect 
that  a  Pole,  speaking  of  the  affairs  of  Poland  to 
such  foreigners  as  only  speak  French  and  English, 
plays  the  fox  in  the  royal  game  of  goose ;  sure  that 
his  hearers  cannot  oppose  him,  if  they  would. 
George  Psalmanazer  wrote  what  he  pleased  of  the 
Island  of  Formosa,  and  was  believed  for  half  a  cen- 
tury, because  there  was  no  one  to  contradict  him. 

We  shall  briefly  recapitulate  Major  Tochman's 
£issumptions,  together  with  our  reasons  and  authori- 
ties for  disbelieving  them  in  toto. 

Before  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  he  says 
that  Poland  was  an  absolute  monarchy,  and  the  con- 
dition of  its  people  was  unknown.  If  he  had  called 
it  an  absolute  anarchy,  down  to  the  year  1791, 
he  would  have  come  nigher  the  truth.  In  the 
eleventh  century,  he  adds  that  the  people  were 
divided  into  four  classes,  viz.,  the  wojewods,  cor- 
responding with  the  lords  and  peers  of  England 
and  France,  a  privileged  class,  to  which  the  bishops 
and  prelates  belonged.  From  this  body  the  king 
selected  his  council,  consisting  of  twelve  members. 

The  nobles,  who  had  no  share  in  the  govern- 
ment. They  were  the  army,  equivalent  to  the 
knights  of  feudal  Europe. 

The  Wiesniacy,  agricultural  people,  peasants  or 
12* 


138  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

serfs ;  according  to  M.  Tochman,  a  free  and  inde- 
pendent people,  mostly  tenants.  Those  of  them 
who  fought  the  battles  of  their  country  became 
noble  by  so  doing. 

This,  too,  was  and  is  the  case  in  detested 
Russia. 

"  The  owners  of  land  used  to  build  hamlets  and 
villages,  and  the  poor,  who  wished  to  settle  in  them, 
used  to  take  a  lease  of  as  many  acres  as  they 
pleased.  The  produce  belonged  to  the  tenant,  who 
paid  his  rent  by  working  on  other  land  for  the 
owner  from  two  to  four  days  in  the  week,  either 
personally,  or  by  the  labor  of  his  servant  or  hired 
man." 

Pretty  high  pay,  too,  for  leave  to  toil,  even  were 
the  statement  true. 

"  The  labor  of  every  man  having  been  counted 
for  one  day's  rent,  the  tenant  could  pay  his  weekly 
rent  in  a  day,  by  sending  his  landlord  a  number  of 
laborers  equal  to  the  number  of  days'  rent  due. 
All  these  peasants  were  under  the  protection  of  the 
law,  as  well  as  the  nobles,  and  could  remove  when- 
ever and  wherever  they  pleased.  Some  of  these 
peasants  paid  additional  rent,  in  the  shape  of  eggs, 
poultry,  and  flax." 

It  is  hardly  to  be  supposed  that  the  Polish  peas- 
antry or  tenants  were  better  off  in  the  eleventh 
than  they  were  in  the  last  century.  In  1827,  the 
peasants  on  one  large  property  held  about  forty- 
eight  acres  apiece,  for  which  they  wrought  two 
days  a  week,  with  a  yoke  of  oxen.  If  further 
labor  was  required  of  them,  they  were  paid  3d.  a 
day  for  two  days  more,  and,  if  beyond  these  four 
days,  at  the  rate  of  6d.  a  day.  On  another  prop- 
erty, they  held  thirty-six  acres  each,  gave  two  days 
a  week  regular  rent,  and  received  6d.  a  day  for 


THE    EMPEROR   NICHOLAS.  139 

additional  labor  with,  and  3d.  without,  the  yoke  of 
oxen.* 

This  service  was  thus  modified  under  despotic 
Russia.  We  shall  presently  see  what  it  was  under 
the  republic ;  if  it  is  not  mockery  to  call  Poland  a 
republic,  at  any  time. 

"The  fourth  class  (it  is  M.  Tochman  who 
speaks)  were  prisoners  of  war ;  and  their  descendants, 
slaves  of  the  nobles  and  wojewods ;  their  condi- 
tion was  not  worse  than  that  of  the  English  vil- 
leins and  tenants  at  will.  All  these  slaves  and 
serfs  were  emancipated  at  once,  and  declared  as  free 
as  the  peasants,  by  the  great  national  assembly,  in 
1347,  which  also  limited  the  power  of  the  kings, 
and  laid  the  foundation  of  that  new  Polish  consti- 
tution which  made  Poland  an  elective  monarchy, 
and,  finally,  a  republic." 

All  very  fine,  this,  for  the  serfs  and  slaves ;  but 
the  major  has  forgotten  to  tell  us  how  and  when  the 
power  of  their  masters  over  them  was  ever  abridged, 
or  what  aristocracy,  having  the  power  to  oppress, 
ever  failed  to  abuse  it.  As  the  Russian  proverb 
has  it,  "  God  is  high  up,  and  the  czar  a  great  way 
off."  He  seems  to  think  that  nobody  in  America 
but  himself  has  ever  read  history,  as  Mahomet 
Emir  said  to  the  ambassador  Polocki.  He  has  also 
forgotten  to  tell  us  when  any  law,  not  protective 
and  extensive  of  their  own  privileges,  was  ever 
respected  or  obeyed  by  the  Polish  nobles,  or  contin- 
ued in  force  a  single  month,  if  it  ever  came  into  it. 
"Fine  words,"  says  the  vulgar  proverb,  "butter  no 
parsnips."  To  talk  of  acts  of  Polish  kings,  or  na- 
tional assemblies  of  slave-holders,  is  as  absurd  as  to 
quote  the  laws  for  the  protection  of  negroes  in  the 

*  Jacob,  who  wrote  from  personal  observation. 


140  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

West  Indies,  or  any  where  else,  which  are  always 
nugatory,  because  they  leave  the  power  of  abuse  in 
the  hands  of  the  master,  and  render  the  proof  of  it 
as  difficult  as  it  is  to  convict  a  Roman  Catholic  car- 
dinal of  incontinence ;  which  requires  seventy-two 
eye-witnesses. 

The  great  Casimir  died  in  1370.  Why  does 
not  Major  Tochman  tell  us  that,  till  his  time,  the 
tenants,  if  he  so  pleases  to  call  them,  had  been  held 
by  their  lords  as  incapable  of  removing  from  their 
soil  and  service,  or  of  having  a  will  of  their  own, 
and  that  the  lord  might  murder  a  tenant  with  per- 
fect impunity.  Casimir  so  far  attempted  to  modify 
this  state  of  things  as  to  declare  that,  if  any  tenant 
was  injured  by  his  lord,  he  might  sell  his  property 
and  go  whithersoever  he  pleased.  A  formidable 
part  of  the  abuse  was,  that  the  proprietors  pledged 
their  tenants  to  each  other  for  their  debts,  thus 
making  the  said  free  and  happy  tenants  prisoners 
and  exiles,  perhaps  for  life.  Nay,  if  a  noble  killed 
another  noble's  tenant,  by  accident  or  otherwise, 
the  matter  was  settled  by  his  making  over  to  the 
damaged  proprietor  an  equally  valuable  tenant. 
For  abolishing,  or  rather  for  trying  to  abolish,  these 
abominations,  Casimir  received  from  his  nobility 
the  derisive  title  of  "  king  of  the  farmers." 

It  was  the  custom,  too,  when  a  tenant  died 
without  children,  for  the  lord  to  seize  his  property. 
Casimir  decreed  that  the  property  should  go  to  the 
nearest  relative.  "Who  have  assailed  you?"  he 
asked  of  a  deputation  of  the  peasantry,  who  came 
to  complain  to  him  of  their  grievances;  "were 
they  men  ? "  "  They  were  our  landlords,"  was  the 
answer.  " Then,"  said  Casimir,  "if  you  are  men, 
too,  are  there  no  sticks  and  stones  ?  " 

If  the  nobles  were  powerful  enough,  in  the  next 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  141 

reign,  (of  Lewis,  king  of  Hungary,)  to  extort  a  char- 
ter for  themselves  from  their  sovereign,  confirming 
all  their  privileges  ;  if  they  had  power  to  drive  him 
from  the  throne  ;  *  of  what  avail  to  the  serfs,  peas- 
ants, tenants,  or  farmers,  (whichever  Major  Toch- 
man  likes,)  were  the  laws  of  John  Casimir?  The 
fact  that  the  laws  of  1347  were  reenacted  again 
and  again,  from  age  to  age,  at  almost  every  change 
of  government,  conclusively  shows  that  they  were 
never  of  any  advantage  to  the  nation.  As  an  able 
writer  observes,  "  the  nobility  were  still  the  only 
NATION.  They  seized  all  the  benefits  of  the  law, 
made  the  king  a  puppet,  the  people  doubly  slaves, 
the  crown  totally  elective,  and  the  nation  poor  and 
barbarous,  without  the  virtues  of  poverty  or  the 
redeeming  boldness  of  barbarism." 

''It  is  true  (the  propagandist  admits)  that,  even 
while  Poland  boasted  of  her  republican  form  of 
government,  the  peasants  were  not  admitted  into 
any  legislative  or  executive  office,  and  they  were 
very  often  abused  by  the  nobles,  which  gave  occa- 
sion to  some  of  our  own  writers  to  blend  and  com- 
pare their  condition  with  that  of  the  real  serfs  of 
other  countries.  This  evil  was  in  the  nature  of 
things.  (Why,  then,  seek  to  deny,  disguise,  or  pal- 
liate it?)  The  mass  of  the  nation  were  illiterate, 
ignorant,  and  superstitious  ;  and,  in  such  condition, 
the  sovereignty  of  the  democratic  principle  could 
not  be  extended  to  all  her  people,  (Was  this  intend- 
ed as  a  sop  for  the  defenders  of  our  own  domestic 
institution?)  for  such  liberty  would  have  stopped 
the  progress  of  civilization,  and  reduced  Poland  to 
the  rank  of  savage  nations." 

*  Koch,  Tableau  des  Revolutions, 


142  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

Setting  aside  the  fact  that  there  was  no  room  for 
such  reduction,  — 

"  He  that  is  down  can  fall  no  lower  !  "  — 

our  pleader  for  Poland  has  here  unconsciously  blun- 
dered upon  the  apology  for  negro  slavery,  for  feudal 
bondage,  for  Russian  serfdom,  for  servitude  all  the 
world  over.  What  other  justification  do  slave-hold- 
ers ever  offer  for  slavery,  than  the  unfitness  of 
slaves  for  freedom,  and  the  evils  attendant  on  imme- 
diate emancipation  ?  —  evils  that  are  not  imaginary 
in  Poland  and  Russia,  as  the  conspiracy  of  1826, 
and  the  rebellion  of  1830,  abundantly  prove  ;  evils 
that  the  emperor  finds  real,  inasmuch  as  they  spring 
from  the  selfish  pride  of  the  nobles,  not  from  the 
ignorance  or  vindictive  temper  of  the  serfs. 

At  the  same  time  the  unfortunate  pleader  for  Po- 
land has  unwittingly  been  betrayed  by  his  zeal  into 
a  gross  inconsistency,  na-j,  a  flat  contradiction  of 
himself  On  the  very  same  page  where  he  denies 
the  existence  of  slavery  in  Poland,  and  quotes  an 
act  of  the  Polish  diet,  in  1347,  in  support  of  his  de- 
nial, he  virtually  acknowledges  and  apologizes  for 
its  continuance,  with  such  an  argument  as  only  a 
desperate  case  suggests,  viz.,  that  the  Polish  slaves 
were  not  freed,  because  they  were  unfit  for  freedom. 

Let  us  now  see  what  the  actual  condition  of  the 
Polish  people  was,  before  they  were  so  fortunate  as 
to  come  under  the  rule  of  Russia.  "  Under  the  re- 
public, the  Polish  peasants  were  slaves,  and  did  not, 
in  fact,  enjoy  any  greater  consideration  than  the 
blacks  of  Carolina  and  Georgia  in  the  present  day."* 
They  were  the  absolute  property  of  their  masters, 

*Coxe,  1,113. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  143 

who,  down  to  the  year  1768,  might  kill  them,  with- 
out incurring  any  heavier  penahy  than  a  small  fine. 
Though  the  murder  was  then  made  capital,  the  en- 
actment was  nullified  by  the  accumulation  of  evi- 
dence it  required  to  prove  the  fact.*  Slaves  were 
required  to  labor  five  days  in  the  week  for  their 
lords,  who  might  also  seize  any  money  or  property 
they  acquired  on  their  own  account ;  they  might 
inflict  corporal  punishment,  and  sell  them,  like  ne- 
groes at  Washington,  and  bullocks  at  Brighton. 
The  boasted  liberty  of  Poland  was,  in  sad  truth  and 
stern  reality,  what  Mahomet  Emir  said  —  "to  live 
without  laws  ;  "  the  power  of  the  few  to  trample  the 
many  to  pieces,  and  grind  the  pieces  to  powder ;  to 
humiliate  and  oppose  their  sovereign,  and  to  sell 
themselves.f  It  would  be  strange,  indeed,  if  some 
of  them  were  not,  once  in  a  great  while,  disposed 
to  treat  their  thralls  with  justice  and  humanity. 
The  Chancellor  Zamoyski  emancipated  his  slaves, 
as  we  have  seen,  and  was  branded  by  his  order  as  a 
traitor  for  so  doing  ;  the  Czartoryskis,  and  Radzivils, 
and  Jablonowskis,  have  freed  some  of  their  peasants, 
and  ameliorated  the  condition  of  the  rest ;  James 
Birney  emancipated  his  slaves;  and  Nicholas  the 
First  has  broken  the  bonds  of  more  serfs,  his  own 
property,  than  all  the  nobles  of  Russia  and  Poland 
have,  from  the  creation  of  the  world  to  this  day. 
But  one  William  Penn  is  not  a  nation  of  duakers, 
nor  are  Zamoyski  and  Nicholas  samples  of  the  Polish 
aristocracy. 

Harrig,  the  author  of  ''  Poland  under  the  Domin- 

*  Coxe,  1, 113. 

t  Coxe,  1,  14.  Voyage  de  deux  Francais  dans  le  Kord  d' Europe. 
Busching's  Introduction.  Connor's  State  of  Poland.  Voltaire, 
Histoire  de  Charles  Douze.  Coyer,  Vie  de  Sobieski.  Malte-Brun, 
Tableau.  Fletcher's  History  of  Poland.  McCulloch's  Gazetteer. 
Rulhiere,  Anarchie  de  Bologne.,  and  a  host  of  others. 


144  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

ion  of  Russia,"  and  a  discharged  officer  from  the 
Russian  service,  —  a  very  prejudiced  and  question- 
able authority  when  he  speaks  of  any  thing  Russian, 
and  a  very  partial  one  to  aught  that  is  Polish,  —  says 
of  the  Polish  peasantry,  even  under  the  constitution 
of  1815  —  "  The  Polish  serf  is,  in  every  part  of  the 
country,  extremely  poor,  and,  of  all  the  living  crea- 
tures I  have  met  with  in  this  world,  or  seen  described 
in  books  of  natural  history,  he  is  the  most  wretched. 
He  is  in  a  worse  situation  than  the  Russian  serf, 
who  is  maintained  by  his  master,  and  has  at  least  a 
subsistence  in  return  for  the  cudgellings  he  receives." 
Against  this  mountain  of  concurrent  testimony, 
shall  we  believe  that  all  former  writers  on  Poland 
have  been  in  error,  and  that  Major  Tochman  alone 
sees  clearly ;  shall  we,  can  we,  believe  him,  when 
he  tells  us  that,  "  as  early  as  the  fourteenth  century, 
the  children  of  the  peasants  were  admitted  to  the 
same  schools  in  which  the  children  of  the  nobles 
were  educated  "  ?  shall  we  believe  that  "  peasants 
alone  "  battled  against  Russia,  under  Kosciusco,  to 
restore  their  own  degradation  ? 

'    "  O  !  where's  the  slave  so  lowly, 
Condemned  to  chains  unholy, 
Who,  could  he  burst  his  bonds  at  first, 
Would  pine  beneath  them  slowly  ''" 

We  may  indeed  believe  that  "  those  (peasants) 
who  graduated,  were  declared  nobles  de  jure^  and, 
as  such,  entitled  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  all  the 
rights  of  free  citizens  of  the  republic"  —  ay,  those 
who  graduated.  The  second  schoolboy  in  a  class 
may  certainly  claim  to  be  within  one  of  the  head, 
if  there  are  but  two  boys  in  it. 

In  the  16th  century,  M.  Tochman  tells  us,  the 
voters  of  Poland  were  480,000,  out  of  a  popula- 


THE  EMPEROR  NICHOLAS.  145 

tion  of  fifteen  millions  ;  while  France,  with  a  popu- 
lation more  than  double,  has  now  only  180,000 
voters.  Very  well ;  but  what  Frenchman  re- 
ceives a  blow,  were  it  from  a  peer,  without  re- 
turning it,  or  is  robbed  of  his  earnings,  or  sold  in  the 
market  ?  But  the  nobility  of  Poland  sprang  from 
among  the  country  people,  says  Tochman ;  they 
are  not  the  descendants  of  another  conquering  race. 

If  they  are  petty  tyrants  and  taskmasters,  what 
matters  it  where,  or  from  whom  they  sprang  ? 

^'  There  are,  in  Poland,  many  villages  and  ham- 
lets inhabited  by  nobles  only,  who  are  as  poor  as 
the  peasants,  and  till  the  soil  with  their  own  hands, 
who,  before  the  partition,  nevertheless,  enjoyed  an 
equality  of  rights  with  nobles  worth  millions^  and 
to  whom  thousands  of  peasants  paid  rent." 

We  know  it :  Voltaire  introduced  these  titled 
beggars  to  the  world  a  hundred  years  ago.  Hence 
it  is  that  every  outcast  who  finds  his  way,  or 
escapes,  from  Poland,  is  a  count,  or  noble,  or,  at  the 
very  least,  a  gentleman ;  though  he  may  not  have 
a  penny  in  his  pocket,  or  a  rag  to  his  back.  Why 
not  ?  there  is  nobody  to  expose  him.  Under  the  old 
laws  of  the  republic,  the  nobles  were  terrigencB ; 
every  rascal  who  owned  half  an  acre  in  fee  simple, 
or  could  prove  his  descent  from  any  body  who  had 
ever  owned  a  like  estate,  was  a  noble,  or  gentleman, 
the  terms  being  synonymous ;  provided,  always, 
that  he  and  his  progenitors  had  always  been  con- 
sumer e  fruges  nati,  and  had  never  debased  (!) 
themselves  by  engaging  in  manufactures  or  com- 
merce, these  being  the  only  two  ways  of  gaining 
an   honest  livelihood  in    Poland.*     No    king  can 

*  Busching,  Introduction  to  Poland.     Malte-Brun,   Tableau  de  la 
Pologne.     Coxe,  Travels^  &c. 

13 


146  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

create  a  gentleman  ;  but  the  king  of  Poland  could 
not  create  even  a  Polish  noble.  This  swarm  of 
needy  patriots,  with  nothing  to  lose  and  every  thing 
to  gain,  constitutes  the  ready  material  for  Polish 
revolutions  and  rebeUions.  The  more  need  is  there 
that  they  should  be  taught  that  they  are  no  better 
than  the  rest  of  mankind ;  and  that  all  hope  of  re- 
gaining their  former  privileges  should  be  crushed 
out  of  them. 

Under  Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia,  on  a  change 
tout  cela.  The  oppressive  privileges  of  the  no- 
bility have  been  suppressed.  They  can  no  longer 
trample  on  the  useful  classes,  and  a  poor  gentleman 
considers  it  no  more  disgraceful  to  work  at  home 
than  to  beg  abroad.  Freedom,  indeed  !  freedom 
of  thought  and  speech,  where  dissent  was  punished 
with  death  on  the  spot;  because,  said  they,  "acts 
of  violence  are  few  in  number,  and  only  affect  the 
individual  sufferers;  but  if  once  the  precedent  is 
established,  of  compelling  the  minority  to  yield  to 
the  majority,  there  is  an  end  to  any  security  for 
the  liberties  of  the  people."    (The  people!)* 

But  if  there  are  poor  nobles  in  Poland,  so  there 
are,  or  lately  were,  also  rich  and  powerful  ones, 
with  enormous  estates ;  such  nobles  as,  more  than 
all  other  causes,  have  retarded  the  civilization  and 
emancipation  of  all  Europe.  The  estates  of  Prince 
Czartoryski  and  Count  Zamoyski  were  equal  in 
extent  to  half  of  England.  In  the  time  of  the  re- 
public, the  one  furnished  the  army  with  twenty, 
and  the  other  with  ten  thousand  men.  What 
wonder,  then,  that  the  present  Prince  Adam  should 
have  been  impatient  of  the  Russian  government, 

**  Salvandy,  Histoirt  de  la  Polognt. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  147 

and  eager  to  regain  the  lost  influence  of  his  fathers 
by  rebellion,  or  in  any  other  way?  What  wonder 
he  sighed  for  their  privilege  to  maintain  troops  and 
fortresses  ?  What  wonder  that  he  was  at  the  head 
of  the  late  insurrection,  in  a  great  measure  his  own 
work ;  or  that  he  is  now  the  Father  Superior  of 
the  Polish  Propaganda?  What  wonder  he  re- 
gretted his  own  exemption  and  that  of  his  vassals 
from  arrest,  whatever  might  be  their  crimes, — when, 
in  short,  he,  and  such  as  he,  were  every  thing,  and 
freedom  and  the  Polish  people,  nothing  ? 

With  what  face  does  Major  Tochman  boast  that 
"there  always  was  more  freedom  in  the  spiritual 
power,  and  more  independence  in  the  secular,  than 
in  any  other  Christian  country,"  knowing,  as  he 
must,  that  it  was  the  religious  intolerance  and 
oppression  of  the  Polish  nobility  that  brought  the 
heavy  hand  of  Catherine  II.  down  on  them  ?  Did 
not  this  pretended  land  of  toleration  become  the 
field  of  religious  contest  under  Sigismond  III.  and 
the  Jesuits  ?  Were  not  the  Protestants  deprived  of 
all  places  of  trust  and  honor  ?  Did  not  bigotry  add 
weight  to  the  serf's  shackles  in  that  reign  ?  Did 
not  Polish  jealousy  of  the  independence  of  the  Cos- 
sacks, the  attempts  of  the  nobles  to  enslave  and 
reduce  them  to  the  condition  of  serfs,  and  to  pro- 
scribe their  religion,  and  their  inhuman  butcheries 
and  oppressions,  drive  that  people  to  revolt,  in  the 
succeeding  one?  How  dares  he  boast  that  the  Jews 
found  a  home  in  Poland  when  they  were  perse- 
cuted elsewhere  ?  Does  not  every  abridged  school 
geography  tell  us  that  they  are  not  even  allowed  to 
hold  landed  property,  to  this  day  ?  How  came  the 
Jews  so  to  swarm  in  Poland  ?  Did  the  toleration 
of  the  Polish  nation  give  them  a  welcome  ?  Did 
they  not  owe  it,  rather,  to  the  adulterous  weakness 


148  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

of  Casimir  the  Great  for  a  Jewess,  whom  he  suffered 
to  lead  him  by  the  nose,  as  Esther  did  Ahasue- 
rus  ?  Spiritual  freedom,  indeed  !  Was  not  Lysinski 
burned  at  the  stake  on  an  absurd  charge  of  atheism, 
in  the  reign  of  John  Sobieski,  the  greatest  mon- 
arch and  man  Poland  ever  produced  ?  This  man's 
offence  was  having  written,  on  the  margin  of  a 
stupid,  inconclusive  treatise,  in  proof  of  the  exist- 
ence of  God  —  ^^  Ergo  J  non  est  Deus.''''  He  lost 
his  life  because  the  Polish  clergy  had  not  sense 
enough  to  understand  the  sarcasm.  His  tongue 
was  torn  with  a  hot  iron,  and  his  hands  burned  be- 
fore his  pyre  was  lighted.  To  prevent  his  escape, 
they  even  violated  one  of  the  protective  laws  of 
their  own  order,  by  which  a  noble  could  only  be 
apprehended  after  conviction. 

The  servitude  of  the  peasants  was  modified  in 
1791,  when  the  Poles,  tnisting  to  the  promised 
support  of  Prussia,  attempted  to  throw  ofi"  their 
dependence  on  Russia.  They  had  a  great  task  be- 
fore them,  and  a  powerful  enemy  to  contend  with  ; 
it  was,  therefore,  necessary  to  conciliate  other 
classes  than  the  nobles.  Under  Napoleon,  slave- 
ry was  wholly  abolished  in  the  duchy  of  Warsaw, 
nearly  identical  with  the  kingdom  of  Poland,  in 
1807 ;  the  labor  and  service  of  serfs  having  been 
defined  and  regulated  by  law  ;  but  the  influence 
of  the  change  was  not  so  great  as  might  have  been 
expected,  owing  to  their  ignorance.  The  peasants 
may  now  leave  the  land,  without  asking  their  lords' 
permission ;  but  they  must  first  pay  all  arrears,  and, 
from  inability  to  do  this,  and  various  other  causes, 
they  seldom  leave  the  estates  where  they  were 
born.  The  habit  of  servitude  is  no  more  easily 
eradicated  tlian  other  rooted  habits ;  —  the  peas- 
ants do  as  they  used  to  do,  when  their  service  was 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  149 

altogether  compulsory ;  they  neglect  the  lands. 
It  is  not,  however,  uniformly  the  case.  Many 
have  extended  their  farms,  and  some  have  become 
proprietors ;  but  many  years  must  probably  pass, 
before  any  great  general  change  takes  place. 

Since  the  insurrection  of  1831,  when  the  Poles 
cast  away  their  last  chance  of  independence,  Poland 
has  been  governed  nearly  like  the  rest  of  the  Rus- 
sian empire.  The  council  of  administration  con- 
sists of  three  directors-general,  (of  the  interior,  of 
justice,  and  of  finance,)  a  comptroller-general,  and 
other  functionaries,  appointed  by  the  emperor,  to 
whom  the  reports  of  the  council  are  submitted  by  a 
secretary  of  state  for  Poland,  residing  in  St.  Pe- 
tersburg. There  is,  also,  in  Petersburg,  a  depart- 
ment for  Polish  affairs,  to  which  the  government 
of  that  kingdom  has  been  confided  ever  since  the 
suppression  of  the  insurrection.  The  legislative 
power  is  vested  in  the  sovereign  ;  and  the  laws  for 
the  government  of  the  kingdom  are  submitted  to 
him,  for  his  sanction,  by  the  Russian  council  of 
state.  The  local  administration  is  in  the  hands  of 
the  civil  governors,  with  the  same  powers  exer- 
cised by  the  heads  of  the  different  governments  of 
Russia. 

The  civil  and  commercial  codes  in  force  are 
nearly  the  same  as  in  France  ;  the  criminal  code  is 
after  the  pattern  of  those  of  Austria  and  Russia. 
Personal  and  religious  liberty  is  garantied,  and 
those  who  do  not  interfere  with  politics  are  as  safe 
in  Poland  as  any  where  else.  There  is  a  censorship 
of  the  press,  that,  for  obvious  reasons,  is  more  rigid 
here  than  in  Russia.  Justices  of  the  peace  have 
jurisdiction  of  causes  not  involving  more  than  five 
hundred  florins,  above  which  they  are  carried  to 
the  tribunals  of  original  jurisdiction  in  the  capitals 
13* 


150  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

of  the  several  governments.  There  is  a  court  of 
appeal  and  a  court  of  cassation  at  Warsaw,  and 
there  are  commercial  tribunals  in  all  the  principal 
towns.  Political  offences  are  tried  and  judged  by 
a  council  of  war,  or  a  commission  specially  ap- 
pointed. 

Before  1830  there  was  little  diffusion  of  educa- 
tion excepting  among  the  nobility  and  the  upper 
classes  of  townsmen.  But  sixteen  thousand  of  the 
entire  population  received  instruction,  or  one  in 
two  hundred  and  sixty-two.  After  the  insurrection 
was  suppressed,  the  schools  were  reorganized  on  the 
same  plan  as  those  of  Russia.  Private  as  well  as  pub- 
lic schools  are  under  the  supervision  of  the  govern- 
ment. There  were  about  forty-four  thousand 
pupils,  in  public  and  private  establishments,  in 
1835,  and  in  1839  upwards  of  seventy  thoussmd, 
or  one  out  of  every  sixty-two  individuals.* 

An  order  issued  by  the  Russian  government,  in 
1838,  gave  great  offence  to  the  Poles  and  their 
sympathizers,  though,  we  confess,  we  cannot  see 
the  harm  of  it.  It  seems  to  us  that  if  despotism 
teaches  one  Pole  in  sixty-two  to  read  and  write, 
where  only  one  in  two  hundred  and  sixty  was 
taught  before  by  constitutional  monarchy,  the 
fact  argues  very  little  in  favor  of  Polish  capaci- 
ty for  self-government.  Nor  can  we  see  what  harm 
there  is  in  teaching  a  Pole  Russ,  one  of  the  dia- 
lects of  his  own  mother  tongue.  The  ukase  estab- 
lished a  teacher  of  the  Russ  language  in  every  pri- 
mary school,  and  directed  that  all  children  attend- 
ing such  schools  should  learn  it.  It  was  also 
ordered  that  no  person  should  be  employed  as  a 
tutor,  unless  qualified  to  give  instruction  in  Russ, 

*  Russia  under  Mcholas  I. 


1*HE    EMPEROR   NICHOLAS.  151 

and  that  no  person  unacquainted  with  that  language 
should  be  appointed  to  any  civil  or  military  em- 
ployment. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  is  for  the  interest 
of  both  countries,  as  it  is  the  policy  of  the  emperor, 
to  Russianize  Poland ;  or  that  the  gradual  substitu- 
tion of  the  one  language  for  the  other  is  the  most 
effectual  means  that  can  be  taken  to  effect  that 
result.  Were  it  desirable,  or  were  there  any  ra- 
tional prospect  that  Poland  would  ever  be  able  to 
regain  her  independence,  we  might,  perhaps,  find 
arguments  against  the  measure.  But  there  is  no 
such  prospect ;  and,  as  Poland  has  no  literature  worth 
preserving,  we  believe  no  valid  objection  can  be 
found  to  the  promotion  of  the  interests  of  both  na- 
tions by  their  consolidation. 

When  we  look  back  to  the  state  of  Poland  previ- 
ous to  1791,  we  cannot  but  wonder  that  the  king- 
dom was  not  dismembered  long  before.  It  was,  in 
fact,  proposed  by  the  Swedes  in  the  reign  of  Casi- 
mir  v.,  as  the  only  way  of  quieting,  and  prevent- 
ing it  from  disturbing  the  peace  of  other  states.* 

However  objectionable  may  have  been  the  mo- 
tive of  the  powers  who  dismembered  Poland,  how- 
ever indefensible  the  act,  and  dangerous  the  prece- 
dent, there  can  be  no  rational  doubt  that  the  meas- 
ure was  most  decidedly  advantageous  to  the  great 
bulk  of  the  Polish  people.  It  is  folly  to  suppose 
that  the  constitution  of  their  government  could  have 
been  remodelled  to  any  good  purpose  —  history 
shsmies  the  supposition.  The  whole  framework 
of  society  was  radically  vicious.  It  would  and  will 
require  long  years  before  newly-emancipated  slaves, 
degraded  and  brutalized  by  centuries  of  oppression, 

*  Rulhiere. 


152  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

(whose  fawning  servility  even  now  evinces  the  bur- 
den from  which  they  have  been  relieved,)  and  a 
proud  and  jealous  nobility,  can  be  restrained  within 
the  limits  of  law  and  justice,  and  raised  to  an  equal- 
ity with  civilized  nations.  Such  a  work  can  only 
be  achieved  by  a  strong  government,  such  as  the 
Poles  never  could  have  formed  among  themselves. 
However  loudly  the  Polish  nobility  may  lament, 
and  their  sympathizers  may  echo  them,  it  is  not  to 
be  denied  that  the  condition  of  the  people  has  sig- 
nally changed  for  the  better. 

Unluckily,  we  have  few  data  on  which  to  esti- 
mate the  extent  of  the  change  for  the  better.  Ab- 
solute power  in  Russia  and  Poland  cares  little  for 
the  opinion  of  other  nations,  and  it  is  not  the  fash- 
ion of  the  Emperor  Nicholas  to  stoop.  We  have 
seen  what  has  been  done  in  regard  to  the  system  of 
general  education.  Poland  has  undoubtedly  suffered 
much  in  consequence  of  the  late  rebellion,  in  conse- 
quence of  destruction  of  life  and  property,  proscrip- 
tions, <fcc. ;  but,  within  the  last  eight  or  ten  years, 
the  country  appears  to  have  revived.  The  munici- 
pal revenue  of  Warsaw,  in  1834,  was  a  fourth  more 
than  in  1829. 

The  value  of  insured  buildings  in  Poland,  in 
1835,  was  112,204,000  more  than  that  of  buildings 
insured  in  1829. 

In  1828,  the  population  was  4,088,289  ;  in  1838, 
it  was  4,298,962. 

The  old  roads  have  been  improved,  and  new 
ones  have  been  made,  which  would  seem  to  argue 
an  improvement  in  trade  and  intercourse.  On  the 
whole,  late  writers  assure  us  that  the  country  is  in 
a  state  of  improvement. 

If,  in  the  foregoing  chapter,  we  have  condensed 
Major  Tochman's  superfluity  of  words,  we  think 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  153 

he  will  not  accuse  us  of  altering,  perverting,  or  sup- 
pressing, his  meaning.  Nevertheless,  to  make  him 
amends,  we  will  subjoin  a  synopsis  of  his  tract, 
which  may  serve,  and  seems  to  have  served,  for 
the  basis  of  all  modern  declamation  on  Polish 
patriotism  and  Polish  wrongs. 

''  Kosciusco  —  great  martyr  of  freedom  —  sacri- 
legiously erased  from  the  map  —  time's  bloodiest 
picture  —  Sarmatia  fell  —  infamous  act  —  mankind 
indebted  to  Poland  —  defended  Christianity  and 
Europe  from  the  Tartars  —  preserved  humanity, 
religion,  and  the  arts  —  asylum  of  the  persecuted  — 
blood  of  heroes  consecrates  the  soil  —  freedom  of 
worship  allowed  forever  to  all  denominations  —  he- 
roes of  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill  —  thousands  of 
foreign  soldiery — cities  and  villages  smoking  — 
mourning  mothers  —  murdered  husbands  and  sons 
—  palpitating  hearts  —  horror  —  native  land  —  ge- 
nius of  liberty  —  grave  of  Pulaski  —  monument  of 
Kosciusco  looks  down  —  rational  liberty  of  all 
men — serfs  of  Russia  —  kiss  of  Judas  —  literary 
splendor  of  Poland  —  laurels  of  the  hero  and 
bard"  —  &c.  &c.  &c. 

We  pause,  and  forbear,  in  mercy  to  the  reader. 
If  any  one's  depraved  taste  relishes 

"  Sound  without  sense,  and  words  devoid  of  force, 
Through  which  no  art  can  find  a  clew," 

let  him  read  the  Rev.  J.  N.  Maffit's  autobiography, 
or  Macpherson's  Ossian ;  and,  if  that  won't  do, 
Major  Tochman's  tract  at  length. 

We  know,  as  well  as  Major  Tochman  can  tell  us, 
that  anarchy,  and  oppression,  and  bloodshed,  and 
misrule,  have  prevailed  in  other  lands  besides  Po- 
land ;  we  know  that  the  crimes  of  nations,  or  indi- 
viduals, do   not  deprive  their   posterity   of    their 


154  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

natural  rights,  or  exclude  them  from  the  pale  of 
Christian  charity  and  sympathy  ;  but,  when  a  son 
of  one  of  the  most  degraded  nations  on  earth  en- 
deavors to  exalt  that  nation  above  all  others,  and 
to  claim,  not  only  an  active  sympathy  in  her  be- 
half, but  to  excite  hatred  toward  another,  friendly 
people,  it  is  time  that 

" the  veil,  that  friendly  hands  would  cast 

O'er  faults  forgotten  and  imprudence  past," 

should  be  rent  away,  and  that  the  suppliant  land 
should  be  seen  as  she  is,  drenched  in  human  blood, 
sitting  in  the  midst  of  the  misery  she  has  wrought, 
in  the  chains  she  has  forged,  fitted,  and  riveted  on 
herself.  The  people  of  Van  Diemen's  Land  should 
not  be  reproached  with  being  the  children  of  con- 
victs ;  but  it  will  be  exceedingly  unwise  of  them, 
to  say  the  least,  to  boast  of  their  ancestry. 

When  a  beggar  asks  relief  for  his  sick  wife  and 
starving  children,  burnt  out  of  house  and  home,  it 
behooves  us,  before  we  draw  our  purse-strings,  to 
satisfy  ourselves  that  he  has  not  broken  his  wife's 
heart,  starved  his  children  in  order  to  revel  in  riot 
himselfj  and  set  fire  to  his  house  in  his  intoxication. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  155 


CHAPTER  VII. 

RUSSIA.  —  STATISTICS.  —  HISTORICAL  FACTS.  — 
RUSSIA  AS  IT  WAS. 

Before  we  attempt  to  convey  to  the  reader  our 
idea  of  the  past  and  present  condition  of  Russia,  it 
may  be  well  to  define  its  actual  limits. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  the  most  extensive  empire 
of  ancient  or  modern  times. 

It  comprises  the  whole  northern  portion  of  the 
eastern  hemisphere,  from  the  frontier  of  the  Duchy 
of  Posen  and  the  Gulf  of  Bothnia,  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean  and  Behring's  Straits ;  or  from  the  18th  to 
the  190th  degree  of  east  longitude ;  a  distance,  on 
the  60th  degree  of  latitude,  of  nearly  six  thousand 
miles.  Its  extent  from  north  to  south  is  also  very 
great,  stretching  from  the  38th  to  the  70th,  and  in 
some  places,  to  the  78th  degree,  with  an  average 
breadth  of  about  fifteen  hundred  miles.  Besides 
this,  Russia  claims  a  large  territory  on  the  north- 
east coast  of  North  America,  the  Aleutian  Islands, 
Nova  Zembla,  and  other  insular  possessions. 

Russia  in  Europe,  including  Finland,  has  been 
estimated  by  Hassel  to  contain  72,869  square 
geographical  miles  ; 

Russia  in  Asia,  275,767  do. ; 

Russia  in  America,  24,000  do.  ; 

Total,  372,636  square  miles. 

A  later  estimate,  by  M.  Kceppen,  of  the  Academy 
of  Arts  and  Sciences  at  St.  Petersburg,  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  government,  gives  the  following  areas 
of  its  grand  divisions,  which  are,  probably,  more 
correct ;  — 


166 


VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 


Northern  Provinces. 

Governments.  Area  in  sq.  m. 

Archangel, 15,212 

Olonetz,        2,354 

Vologda,        6,880 

Great  Russia. 

Petersburg,        710 

Novgorod, 2,070 

Pskof, 1,045 

Smolensk, 954 

Moscow, 550 

Twer 1,122 

Yaroslaf, 807 

Kostroma, 1,438 

Nijni  Novgorod,     ....  878 

Vladimir, 831 

Riazan, 707 

Tambof,        1,152 

Tula, 529 

Kuluga,        541 

Orel,        755 

Koursk,        794 

Baltic  Provinces. 

Esthonia, 315 

Livonia,        826 

Courland, 475 

White   Russia. 

Witepsk, 778 

Mohileff, 824 

Minsk, 1,983 

Lithuania. 

Wilna, 1,161 

Grodno,        570 

Bialystock,        162 


Pop.  in  1838. 

239,000 
230,200 
747,500 


585,200 

825,400 

705,300 

1,064,200 

1.249,700 

1,297,900 

916,500 

958,700 

1,071,100 

1,133,200 

1,241,700 

1,591,700 

1,113,500 

914,900 

1,366,300 

1,527,300 


282,200 
740,100 
503,000 


717,700 

846,600 

1,034,800 

1,315,800 
791,700 
251,000 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS. 


157 


Little    Russia. 

Governments.                                        Area  in  sq.  m.  Pop.  in  1838. 

Volhynia, 1,073  1,314,100 

Podolia,        576  1,548,200 

Kieff, .798  1,459,800 

Tchernigoflf, 898  1,300,000 

Paltawa, 1,062  1,621,600 

Kharkoff, 1,386  1,334,000 

Voroneje, 1,354  1,507,200 

Don  Cossacks,        ....       2,550  640,300 

New  Russia. 

Ekateritioslaf,         ....       1,186  791,000 

Kherson, 1,099  765,800 

Taurida,        2,040  520,200 

Bessarabia 794  720,000 

Wolga  and  Caspian  Provinces. 


1,104 
674 


Kasan, 
Pensa, 

Simbersk, 1,141 

SaratofF,        3,473 

Astrakhan  2,829 

Caucasus,  &c.,       ....  1,803 

Oural  Provinces. 

Orenburg, 6,535 

Perm, 2,721 

Viatka, 2,497 

Siberia. 

Tobolsk, 
Tomsk, 
Irkutsk,  ^ 

Yakutsk,         I 
Kamschatka,  V 
Okhotsk, 
Yeniseisk,     J 
14 


1,220,800 

988,400 

1.199,000 

1,564,400 

258,500 

478,500 

1,771,400 

1,488,800 
1,511,600 


888,18 


162,000 


{. 


684,900 

077,000 

r  507,300 

162,400 

<!       4,500 

7,700 

205,800 


158  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

Transcaucasian  Provmces. 

Governments.                                        Area  in  sq.  m.  Pop.  in  1838. 

Georgia,  &c., 3,381  2,000,000 

Finland,        6,406  1,397,145 

Kingdom  of  Poland,       .     .       2,267  4,298,962 

Russian  America,        .     .     .     17,500  61,053 


Total,         364,388     59,673,260 

Classified  Account   of  the  Population  of  Russia^ 
by  the  Minister  of  Finance. 

Males.  Females. 

Russian  priests,       ....     52,331 
Deacons  and  sacristans,    .     .     63,178 
Male  children  of  priests,  dea- 
cons, and  sacristans,     .   138,548 


Total,         254,057  249,748 

Priests  of  the  United  Greek 

and  Roman  Church,     .       7,823  7,318 

Catholic  priests,      .     . 
Armenian    do. 


Lutheran     do. 
Reformed  Church, 
Mahometan  Mollahs, 
Tartar  Lamas, 


2,497 
474  343 


1,003  955 

51  37 

!50 

150 


7,850  6,071 


Nobles, 

Hereditary,        284,731         253,429 

By   virtue   of   service,  with 

their  sons,       ....     78,922  74,273 

Petty  officers,  who  have  left 
the  army,  and  are  employ- 
ed in  the  civil  service,  .   187,047  237,443 

Foreigners  of  all  classes,      .     22,114  15,215 

Military  colonies,        .     .     .  950,698         981,467 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  159 

Inhabitants  of  Towns. 

Males.  Females. 

Merchants, 131,347  120,714 

Shopkeepers,  artisans,  &c.     1,339,434  1,433,982 

Citizens  in  the  eastern  provinces,  7,535  6,966 
Greeks  of  Nijni,  gun-makers 

of  Tula,  &c.       .     .     .      10,882  10,940 

Citizens  of  Bessarabia,    .     .      57,905  56,176 

Inhabitants  of  Villages. 

Peasants,  the  private  prop- 
erty of  the  emperor 
and  the  imperial  fam- 
ly,  peasants  annexed 
to  the  crown,  &c.     .  10,441,399     11,022,594 

Peasants,  the  property  of 

nobles,      ....    11,403,722     11,958,873 

Wandering  IVibes. 
Calmucks,  Circassians,  and 
Mahometans    of    the 
Caucasus,       ....    245,715  261,982 

Territory  beyond   the   Caucasus. 

Georgia,  Armenia,  Mongolia, 

&c 689,147  689,150 

Poland, 2,077,311  2,110,911 

Finland, 663,658  708,484 

Russian  colonies  in  America,    30,761  30,292 

Total,         28,896,223    30,237,343 
Grand  total  of  both  sexes,  59,133,566 

The  privates  of  the  army  and  navy,  and  their 
wives  and  children,  are  not  included  in  either  of  the 
above  tables  ;  so  that  the  sum  total  may  be  estima- 
ted, in  round  numbers,  at  sixty-one  millions.     To 


160  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

this  should  be  added  about  a  million  and  a  half  of 
mountaineers  between  the  Caspian  and  the  Black 
Sea,  and  several  wandering  tribes  of  Circassians 
and  others,  whom  it  is  impossible  to  number. 

The  divisions  and  boundaries  of  this  immense 
empire  have  materially  varied  at  different  periods. 
Peter  the  Great  made  some  important  changes  in 
the  distribution,  which  was,  nevertheless,  remod- 
elled and  placed  on  a  permanent  footing  by  Cath- 
erine II.,  in  1775.  Her  arrangement,  nearly,  was 
confirmed  and  settled,  by  Alexander,  in  1822.  The 
empire  is  now  divided  into  governments,  and 
oblasts,  or  territories  not  yet  formed  into  govern- 
ments. Some  of  these,  particularly  in  Asiatic 
Russia,  are  of  great,  but  unknown  extent,  and  un- 
certain limits.  The  best  information  upon  this 
subject  at  our  command  is  contained  in  the  above 
tables. 

There  can  be  no  fair  judgment  of  the  character, 
temper,  or  genius  of  a  people,  without  taking  into 
consideration  the  circumstances  of  their  late  history. 
Foreigners  find  fault  with  us  because  we  have  not 
attained  perfection  in  the  arts,  sciences,  and  belles- 
letters,  at  the  same  time  while  our  whole  energies 
have  been  employed  upon  the  necessary  and  useful. 
They  describe  our  national  character  as  they  do 
that  of  Russia,  while  we  have  no  national  character, 
not  having  yet  had  time  to  form  one  ;  and  though 
the  Russians  of  to-day  are  no  more  like  the  Rus- 
sians of  a  century  ago  than  the  oak  is  like  the 
acorn,  and  no  more  like  what  they  will  be  a  cen- 
tury hence,  than  the  same  oak  is  like  the  ship  into 
which  it  is  destined  to  be  fashioned.  We  laugh  at 
the  wedding  of  a  pair  of  Sandwich  islanders,  when 
the  bride  appears  at  the  altar  in  a  single  cotton  gar- 
ment,   and  the   bridegroom  in  puris  naturalihus. 


THE  EMPEROR  NICHOLAS.  161 

We  should  do  better  to  reflect  that,  a  hundred  years 
since,  the  grandparents  of  the  happy  couple  were 
almost  as  the  beasts  that  perish,  and  had  no  more 
idea  of  law  or  Christianity  than  a  bare-legged  High- 
landman  of  the  same  epoch  had  of  a  knee-buckle. 
Their  appearance  in  a  church,  in  any  garb,  at  least 
argues  an  awakened  moral  sense,  and  a  capacity 
and  desire  for  improvement. 

In  the  15th  century  arose  the  Cossacks,  in  the 
reign  of  Ivan  the  Great.  The  Poles  and  Lithua- 
nians had  conquered  the  whole  of  Western  Russia 
to  Kiow,  and  subjected  the  inhabitants  to  religious 
persecution,  as  well  as  political  oppression,  notwith- 
standing the  Polish  spirit  of  toleration,  so  boasted 
by  Major  Tochman.  The  Crim  Tartars  beset 
Russia  hard  on  the  east.  The  discontented, 
therefore,  retired  to  the  fertile  and  uninhabited 
Ukraine,  and  organized  themselves  into  a  military 
community,  governed  by  their  own  hetmans,  un- 
der the  auspices  of  Poland.  Thus  they  remained, 
the  bulwark  of  Poland  against  the  Turks,  though 
oppressed  by  the  oligarchy,  till,  in  John  Casimir's 
time,  they  took  up  arms  against  the  Polish  gover- 
nor, simply  because  he  had  ravished  the  wife  of 
Chmielnicki,  a  man  of  some  influence  among 
them,  and  burned  his  house,  in  the  flames  of 
which  his  infant  child  perished.  Casimir  tried  con- 
ciliation. The  Cossack  chief  withdrew  his  forces, 
and  negotiations  were  in  progress ;  but  the  Polish 
nobles  broke  the  truce ;  whereupon  the  Cossacks 
defeated  them,  entered  Poland,  and  invested  the 
king  in  his  camp  at  Zborow.  A  peace  was  then 
granted  by  the  simple  Cossacks,  who  believed  those 
sincere  who  had  deceived  them  before  so  often, 
when  they  promised  them  personal  and  religious 

freedom,  (1649.) 
14# 


162  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

The  foiled  and  humiliated  nobles  were  not  sat- 
isfied with  this,  to  them,  disgraceful  treaty,  —  if 
any  thing  could  disgrace  them,  —  and,  before  the 
year  was  out,  the  diet  declared  its  intention  to 
reduce  the  Cossacks  to  obedience.  Casimir  pro- 
claimed a  crusade,  and  received  a  consecrated 
sword  and  helmet  from  the  pope,  and  then  marched 
against  the  Cossacks  with  100,000  Polish  nobles, 
and  50,000  foreign  troops,  trained  in  the  ''  Thirty 
Years'  War." 

The  hetman  allied  himself  with  the  cham  of 
the  Tartars,  and  met  this  vast  armament.  He  was 
beaten,  and  his  forces  dispersed,  and  the  Cossacks 
gave  themselves  to  Alexis  Michaelowitsch,  in  1654, 
who  gladly  received  his  new  and  voluntary  sub- 
jects.* 

The  Cossacks  revolted  from  Poland,  rather  than 
be  slaves.  Under  the  dominion  of  Russia,  "  Free 
as  a  Cossack,"  has  become  a  proverb.  It  is  their 
boast  that  they  cannot  be  forced  into  the  service, 
like  refractory  Russian  conscripts  and  British  sea- 
men. They  hold  their  lands  by  the  military  tenure 
of  four  years'  service,  each,  in  the  ranks,  which,  in 
time  of  peace,  they  perform  for  a  merely  nominal  pay. 
Poland  turned  the  scale  of  her  own  destiny,  when 
she  converted  these  wild  warriors  from  friends  into 
foes.  Russia  numbers  upwards  of  100,000  of  them 
in  her  countless  ranks.  At  home,  the  freedom  of 
their  institutions  surpasses  that  of  the  ancient  Swiss 
cantons. 

Ivan  Vassilievitsch  II.,  surnamed  ''  The  Terri- 
ble," and  ''  The  Tyrant,"  son  of  the  Great  Ivan, 
first  gave  the  Russians  a  code  of  laws.  He  ex- 
tended the  limits  of  the  empire,  and  surpassed  his 

*  Chevalier,    Guerre   des    Cosaques.     Malte-Brun,    Tableau  de 
Pologne. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  163 

father  in  his  efforts  for  its  improvement.  In  the 
latter  part  of  his  reign,  Russia  was  assailed  by 
Sweden,  and  Denmark,  and  Poland,  all  at  once, 
and  only  obtained  peace  with  the  latter  power,  by 
yielding  Livonia,  (1582,)  at  the  intercession  of  the 
Emperor  Rodolph  II.  and  Pope  Gregory  XIII. 
From  this  first  aggression,  perhaps,  dates  the  in- 
veterate hatred  entertained  by  the  Russian  people 
against  the  Poles ;  a  hatred  enhanced  by  the  mem- 
ory of  subsequent  wrongs,  and  as  rancorous  as  the 
conquered  Welsh  felt  for  the  English  people  down 
to  the  reign  of  Henry  V.  This  feeling  the  Rus- 
sians are  at  no  pains  to  conceal.  It  has  been 
handed  down  to  them  from  generation  to  gener- 
ation, and  will,  doubtless,  live  for  long  years  to 
come.  It  is  one  of  the  strongest  traits  in  the 
national  character.  Every  Russian  knows  by 
heart,  and  triumphantly  recites,  the  menacing  lyr- 
ic of  the  poet  Pushlin,  that  he  addressed  to  the 
Polish  sympathizers  in  France. 

The  Russian  pride  was  severely  wounded  by 
the  Emperor  Alexander's  gift  of  a  constitution 
to  the  Poles,  as  it  seemed  to  acknowledge  their 
capacity  to  enjoy  institutions  for  which  the  Rus- 
sians were  unfit.  How  purely  imaginary  this  sup- 
posed capacity  was,  the  result  has  shown  ;  but, 
when  the  insurrection  of  1830  broke  out,  the  na- 
tional hate  found  vent.  When  Nicholas  announced 
the  necessity  of  taking  up  arms  against  Poland  to 
the  officers  of  his  army,  they  drew  their  sabres, 
fell  on  their  knees,  and,  with  fearful  oaths  and 
imprecations,  convinced  the  emperor  that  all  the 
severity  of  martial  law  and  Russian  discipline 
would  be  needed  to  save  the  Poles  from  extermi- 
nation.* 

*  Polytechnic  Journal,  February,  1842. 


164  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

The  usurper  and  murderer,  Bous  Godenov,  by- 
stirring  up  civil  strife,  and  restoring  and  increasing 
the  privileges  of  the  nobles,  well  nigh  undid  all 
the  good  that  had  been  done  by  the  two  Ivans. 

Poland  again  took  part  with  the  impostor  Deme- 
trius, in  the  civil  war  stirred  up  in  Russia  in  his 
name.  This  man  played  the  same  comic,  or  rather 
tragic,  part  enacted  before  him  by  the  slave  Clemens, 
in  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  and  by  Perkin  Warbeck, 
in  England,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  The  king 
of  Poland  (Sigismund)  was  ashamed  to  counte- 
nance this  vagabond ;  but  the  Polish  aristocracy, 
who  were  never  ashamed  of  aught,  or  asked  their 
sovereign  servant's  consent  to  do  any  thing,  seated 
him  on  the  throne  of  Russia,  on  the  21st  of  July, 
1605.  He  was  murdered  on  the  17th  of  May  fol- 
lowing, or,  more  properly,  executed,  with  1700 
of  his  Polish  adherents ;  but  a  second  Demetrius 
sprang  up,  and  a  third,  and  the  last  impostor  was 
patronized  and  defended  by  the  Polish  oligarchy 
like  the  first.  Sigismund  himself,  urged  by  the 
Jesuits,  concurred  with  them,  sent  an  army  into 
Russia,  in  the  cause  of  the  second  pretender,  took 
Moscow,  deposed  the  Czar  Basil  Schoueski,  who 
had  been  elected  by  the  Russians,  and  drove  him 
into  a  cloister  in  Poland,  where  he  died,  and  again 
the  Poles  forced  a  monarch  upon  Russia. 

Demetrius  II.  was  assassinated  by  the  Tartars; 
and  the  Russians,  to  avoid  a  new  war  with 
which  they  were  threatened  by  Poland,  oflfered 
their  crown  to  Wladislas,  the  son  of  Sigis- 
mund, on  condition  that  he  would  renounce  the 
Latin  and  embrace  the  Greek  ritual.  The  Polish 
General  Zolkiewski  advanced  to  the  very  walls 
of  Moscow,  with  an  army,  and  extorted  the  oath 
of  fidelity  to  Wladislas  from  the  citizens;  but 
Wladislas  himself  never  came. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  165 

We  read,  with  indignation  and  horror,  of  the 
capture  of  Warsaw  and  the  storming  of  Prague 
by  Suwarrow,  but  we  do  not  hear  at  all  of  the 
atrocities  perpetrated  by  Zolkiewski.  Six  thou- 
sand of  his  troops  entered  Moscow,  and  treated  its 
inhabitants  with  remorseless  cruelty.  They  set 
fire  to  several  parts  of  the  city  ;  put  great  num- 
bers of  the  people  to  the  sword;  plundered  the 
treasury,  the  convents,  and  the  churches,  and  car- 
ried off  a  prodigious  booty,  in  gold  and  silver. 

When  the  French  eagles  perched  on  the  Krem- 
lin, the  awful  scene  that  ensued  was  but  a  faint 
repetition  of  the  horrors  wrought  by  the  intrusive 
and  invading  Poles  in  1611.  Thus  speaks  the 
Russian  historian  Karamsin :  "  What  words  can 
adequately  paint  the  deplorable  state  to  which 
Moscow  was  thus  reduced  ?  That  popnlous  cap- 
ital, resplendent  with  riches  and  numbers,  was 
annihilated  in  a  single  day.  There  remain  only 
smoking  ruins ;  piles  covered  with  ashes  and 
drenched  with  blood.  You  see  nothing  but 
corpses,  and  churches  sacked  or  half  devoured  by 
the  flames.  The  awful  silence  of  death  is  in- 
terrupted only  by  the  pitiable  lamentations  of 
wretches  covered  with  wounds,  a  prey  to  all  the 
agonies  of  prolonged  torture." 

By  the  laws  of  war,  practised  and  allowed  by 
all  nations,  an  untenable  place  that  holds  out,  and 
is  carried  by  assault,  undergoes  the  extremities  of 
fire  and  sword,  if  the  conqueror  so  wills  it,  espe- 
cially if  its  resistance  has  been  desperate  and 
bloody.  Prague  was  so  taken  by  Suwarrow,  who 
did  not,  however,  burn  Warsaw. 

The  reason  of  so  stern  a  proceeding,  though 
harsh,  is  just.  It  is  to  warn  garrisons  not  to  cause 
a   useless    waste    of   life    by   hopeless    resistance. 


166  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

Moscow  was  not  taken  by  assault  by  the  Poles  :  they 
entered  it  without  opposition.  Yet  Zolkiewski  is 
chronicled  in  history  as  a  hero,  and  Suwarrow  as  a 
butcher.  Why  ?  —  the  one  was  a  patriotic  Pole,  the 
other  a  Russian  barbarian. 

The  Muscovites,  however,  having  driven  Zol- 
kiewski from  the  empire,  elected  Michael  Fedoro- 
witsch  Romanoff,  the  founder  of  the  present  reigning 
dynasty,  with  unlimited  hereditary  power,  in  1613. 
In  his  reign  appeared  the  third  Demetrius,  who 
got  possession  of  Pleskow,  and  was  ultimately 
beheaded  by  Alexis,  Michael's  son  and  successor, 
in  1653. 

There  was  war  between  Russia  and  Poland,  or, 
rather,  by  Poland  on  Russia,  during  Michael's 
reign.  The  Russians  besieged  Smolensko,  and  the 
Poles  Moscow,  at  the  same  time,  till  a  truce  for 
fourteen  years  made  them  desist.  The  truce  not 
being  renewed,  the  Russians  again  blockaded  Smo- 
lensko, till  the  siege  was  raised  by  Wladislas,  who 
gained  a  complete  victory  over  them.  The  czar 
made  overtures  for  peace,  which  was  concluded  (in 
1634)  with  the  understanding  and  agreement  that 
Wladislas  should  forever  resign  his  pretensions  to 
Russia,  and  content  himself  with'  holding  the 
duchies  of  Smolensk  and  Severia,  as  fiefs  of  the 
crown  of  Polaud. 

Alexis  Michaelowitsch  improved  his  army  by  the 
introduction  of  foreign  officers ;  broke  the  treaty ; 
recovered  Smolensk,  Tschernigoff,  Belaja,  Kiow, 
and  the  Ukraine ;  ravaged  Lithuania,  and  made  an 
inroad  into  Poland  itself.  At  the  same  time,  he 
warred  on  the  Turks  and  Tartars.  At  one  time,  he 
had  possession  of  Volhynia  and  the  greater  part 
of  Lithuania ;  but  surrendered  them  again  when 
peace  was  concluded.     From  the  Tartars  he  took 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  167 

the  Crimea.  At  his  death,  in  167G,  he  was  at 
peace  with  all  his  neighbors,  excepting  the  Turks. 

We  suppose  we  have  now  accounted  for  the  re- 
ciprocal animosity  of  the  Poles  and  Russians,  and 
shown  that  the  balance  of  wrong  is  not  in  favor 
of  the  former.  Granting  that  the  Russians  have  of 
late  years  treated  the  Poles  harshly,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  it  was  not  without  some  provo- 
cation. 

Before  Peter's  time,  (and  in  what  follows  we 
speak  only  of  what  was  previous  to  his  reign,)  it 
was  the  practice  of  the  czars  to  hinder  inquisi- 
tive persons  from  all  knowledge  of  their  govern- 
ment :  some  of  them  banished  the  sciences  from 
their  dominions,  and  forbade  the  profession  of  them 
under  severe  penalties.  The  clergy  was  as  igno- 
rant as  the  laity:  all  they  knew  was,  that,  as  mem- 
bers of  the  Greek  church,  they  were  bound  to  hate 
the  Latins.  Very  few  indeed  of  them  could  make 
a  sermon,  even  for  Russian  serfs  ;  and  few  books 
could  be  found,  in  the  richest  monasteries,  even  if 
there  had  been  any  priestly  readers.  Ignorance, 
however,  is  no  pacificator  ;  and  the  clergy  quarrelled 
about  points  of  doctrine  in  Russia  as  well  as  every 
where  else.  The  chief  point  of  dispute  was, 
whether  the  laity  ought  to  cross  themselves  with 
two  fingers  or  three  ;  and  a  very  serious  sedition  was 
got  up  by  one  Jacob  Nursuflf,  in  Astrachan,  about 
this  important  matter,  in  the  reign  of  Feodor  III. 
Even  in  Peter's  time,  the  theology  compulsorily 
taught  in  the  few  cloisters  that  he  did  not  suppress, 
savored  strongly  of  the  darkness  of  ages  past.  One 
of  the  subjects  of  a  public  theological  debate  was, 
whether  it  was  a  sin  to  smoke  tobacco,  and  the  dis- 
putant in  the  affirmative  contended  that  it  was 
lawful  to  get  dnmk  on  brandy,  but  not  to  smoke, 


168 


VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 


because  it  is  written  that  what  cometh  out  of  the 
mouth  defileth  a  man,  and  that  which  entereth 
therein  defileth  not.* 

Another  important  and  equally  fiercely  contested 
point  was,  whether  the  Holy  Ghost  proceeds  from 
the  Father  alone,  or  from  the  Father  and  Son  united. 

The  Russians,  nobles  and  slaves,  were  unques- 
tionably less  civilized  than  the  Mexicans  and  Peru- 
vians in  the  times  of  Cortez  and  Pizarro ;  and,  to 
keep  them  in  ignorance  and  insensibility  of  their 
yoke,  an  ancient  law  forbade  them  to  travel  abroad, 
without  permission  from  the  czar  or  the  patriarch,  on 
pain  of  death.  This  law  flattered  their  pride,  and, 
like  the  Chinese,  they  regarded  all  other  nations  as 
mere  ^'outside  barbarians."  The  conversation  of 
strangers,  thought  some  of  the  czars,  would  be  too 
instructive,  and  would  teach  their  subjects  to  sigh 
for  unreasonable  liberty.  Even  the  magnates 
were  not  permitted  to  retire  from  court,  and  sel- 
dom or  never  visited  their  large  possessions  in  the 
provinces,  which  they  left  to  the  management  of 
stewards.  The  sovereign  himself  never  married 
a  foreigner,  but  chose  his  wife  from  his  nobility, 
or  even  among  the  common  people  ;  nor  had  her 
relations  any  special  honor,  unless  during  her 
lifetime. 

The  general,  universal,  utter  ignorance  extended 
even  to  almost  total  neglect  of  what  was  requisite 
to  self-preservation  ;  we  mean,  the  art  of  war.  The 
czar  could  raise  a  very  large  army,  indeed,  in  a 
very  short  time,  by  sending  orders  to  the  voevodas,  or 
governors,  to  furnish  their  contingents  at  a  stated 
time  and  place  ;  but  these  troops  were  but  the 
rudest  of  militia,  without  discipline  or  skill  in  the 

*  Voltaire,  Histoire  de  Charles  XIl, 


THE  EMPEROR  NICHOLAS.  169 

use  of  weapons  ;  and  therefore  it  was  they  were 
usually  defeated.  It  was  not  till  the  reign  of 
Ivan  II.  that  Russia  had  a  standing  army  of  forty 
thousand  men;  viz..  the  Strelitzes,  a  disorderly, 
mutinous,  pretorian  band,  more  dangerous  to  their 
country  and  to  their  master  than  to  the  enemy,  and 
a  nuisance  and  a  terror  to  their  fellow-subjects. 
The  cavalry  was,  like  the  Polish  pospolite,  just  such 
as  France  and  England  had  when  those  kingdoms 
were  assemblages  of  fiefs.  The  Russian  nobles 
mounted  and  armed  themselves  at  their  own  ex- 
pense, and  fought  individually  and  independently; 
often  with  no  other  arms  than  the  sabre,  bow,  and 
quiver. 

The  command  of  armies  was  given  to  birth,  not 
merit ;  nor  were  there  any  regular  general  offi- 
cers. The  other  officers,  from  colonels  down,  were 
foreign  adventurers,  fugitives  from  other  countries, 
brought  to  Russia  by  large  rewards.  Their  high 
pay,  and  the  esteem  in  which  they  were  held, 
showed  how  much  the  Muscovites  were  in  want 
of  military  teachers.  As  most  of  them  had  never 
been  more  than  private  soldiers  elsewhere,  they 
were  of  little  use  in  Russia. 

Prom  all  these  causes,  it  resulted  that,  though 
the  Russians  extended  their  dominions  to  the  east 
and  north,  among  tribes  as  barbarous  as  themselves, 
they  could  make  no  impression  on  the  Turks,  and 
were  unable  to  resist  the  Swedes,  or  even  the 
paltry  Poles.  The  boyarins  were  mostly  exempted 
from  military  service,  and  looked  upon  their  scan- 
dalous exemption  as  an  honor. 

The  people,  forbidden  to  learn,  ignorant  of  the 

subdivision  of  labor,  born  in  slavery,  and  laboring 

for  their  lords  instead  of  themselves,  were  content 

with  such  rude  cultivation  as  enabled  them  to  exist, 

15 


170  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

and  made  no  improvement,  notwithstanding  their 
courage,  hardihood,  vivacity,  penetration,  and  flexi- 
bility of  character  —  qualities  that  survive  in  full 
force  in  their  posterity  at  the  present  day.  Rich 
they  could  not  become,  nor  durst,  if  they  eould  i 
even  the  nobles  feared  to  appear  so.  The  arts  are 
the  children  of  opulence  and  easy  government  j 
what  wonder  they  were  strangers  to  Russia  ? 

The  czar  had  his  council  of  state,  whom  he  con- 
sulted when  he  pleased,  and  whose  counsel  he  fol- 
lowed when  it  pleased  him.  This  assembly  was 
composed  of  his  boparins,  or  hereditary  nobles :  a 
few  of  the  gentlemen  of  his  bed-chamber,  or  scol- 
nics ;  the  grand  councillors,  {dumni  duoraninSy) 
who  were  all  noble  ;  and  three  dumni  diacsy  or 
under-chancellors,  advocates  of  the  people,  ap- 
pointed by  the  czar  from  the  lower  orders.  These 
last  always  stood  while  the  others  were  seated. 
All  public  affairs  were  considered  by  this  council : 
foreign  emissaries  were  chosen  from  it  by  the  sov- 
ereign. 

There  were  several  courts  of  justice,  called  pre- 
causes,  in  which  the  councillors  of  state,  whether 
boyarins,  scolnics,  or  dumni  duoranins,  might  pre- 
side, while  the  dumni  diacs  officiated  as  registers. 
They  decided  cases  only  at  the  first  hearing  ;  after 
which  there  was  an  appeal  to  the  council  of  state. 

The  ritual  of  the  Russo-Greek  church,  of  fifty 
millions  of  people,  now  fills  twenty  folio  volumes,  in 
the  Sclavonic  tongue. 

The  Empress  Catherine  and  the  Emperor  Alex- 
ander labored  wisely  and  diligently  to  simplify  and 
to  give  order  and  regularity  to  the  administration 
of  the  government  of  Russia ;  to  reduce  it  to  a  sys- 
tem that  should  be,  as  far  as  possible,  independent 
of  the  character  or  caprice  of  any  future  sovereign. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  171 

Alexander  proclaimed,  in  1811,  that  the  law  was 
superior  to  the  sovereign,  and  gave  the  senate  the 
right  to  remonstrate  against  any  ukase  they  might 
deem  inconsistent  with  it. 

PuWic  business  is  transacted,  under  the  emperor, 
by  four  boards,  councils,  or  colleges. 

The  emperor's  imperial  council  was  established 
on  its  present  footing  in  1810 ;  and  consists  of  a 
president  and  an  indefinite  number  of  members, 
among  whom  the  ministers  must  always  be  reck- 
oned. It  is  divided  into  the  departments  of  legis- 
lation, war,  civil  and  religious  affairs,  finance,  and 
the  afl^airs  of  Poland  ;  and  has  the  superintendence 
of  every  thing  connected  with  the  internal  adminis- 
tration. 

The  senate  was  founded  by  Peter  the  Great,  and 
is  considered  the  most  important  body  in  the  state  ; 
being  the  high  court  of  justice  of  the  empire,  and 
having  control  of  all  the  inferior  tribunals.  Its 
functions,  partly  deliberative  and  partly  executive, 
are  set  forth  in  a  ukase  of  the  20th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1802.  The  members  are  nominated  by  the 
emperor,  and  can,  therefore,  be  but  a  feeble  check 
on  his  power.  Their  number  is  about  a  hundred, 
with  a  yearly  salary  of  seven  thousand  rubles  each. 
The  senate  is  divided  into  eight  committees  of  sec- 
tions, of  which  five  sit  at  St.  Petersburg  and  three 
at  Moscow.  Each  committee  has  power  to  decide, 
in  the  last  resort,  upon  certain  descriptions  of  cases 
brought  either  immediately  before  it,  or  by  appeal 
from  the  inferior  tribunals.  There  are  cases,  how- 
ever, in  which  persons  dissatisfied  with  its  decisions 
may  petition  to  the  emperor. 

The  senators  are  mostly  personages  of  high  rank 
or  station  ;  but  some  eminent  lawyer  represents  the 
emperor,  and  presides  in  each  department.     His  sig- 


172  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

nature  is  essential  to  the  validity  of  any  decision. 
In  the  general  meeting  of  the  sections,  the  minister 
of  justice  takes  the  chair,  as  high  procurator. 

Beside  its  supervision  of  the  courts  of  law,  the 
senate  examines  the  state  of  the  public  revenue  and 
expenditure,  and  has  power  to  inquire  into  public 
abuses,  and  to  make  a  great  variety  of  appointments. 
Its  proceedings  are  published  monthly  in  the  gov- 
ernment paper. 

The  holy  synod  constitutes  the  third  college,  or 
council  of  the  empire.  All  its  decisions  are  in  the 
emperor's  name,  and  are  of  no  force  till  approved  by 
him.  There,  as  with  us  here,  the  ecclesiastical  is 
wholly  subordinate  to  the  temporal  power. 

There  are  eleven  ministers,  viz.,  of  the  impe- 
rial household,  of  war,  finance,  justice,  interior, 
public  instruction,  imperial  domains,  post-offices, 
public  buildings  and  roads,  and  the  vice-chancellor 
and  comptroller-general.  These  constitute  the 
fourth  college,  and  they  have  colleagues  who  sup- 
ply their  places  when  sick  or  absent.  They  com- 
municate directly  with  the  emperor,  or  with  his 
private  chancery,  or  executive  department,  of  which 
more  anon. 

It  has  ever  been  the  wise  poHcy  of  the  Russian 
sovereigns  to  allow  conquered  or  acquired  countries 
to  retain  their  own  laws  and  institutions,  so  far  as 
thoy  were  not  hostile  to  the  empire  or  its  general 
constitution.  Thus  Poland  has  not  been  deprived 
of  her  slavery  and  aristocracy  —  the  only  permanent, 
fixed  institutions  she  ever  enjoyed. 

Again,  if  Russia  should  ever  resolve  to  follow  the 
example  now  proposed,  and  soon  to  be  set,  by  the 
United  States,  and  dishonestly  and  unjustly  annex 
Turkey,  or  Persia,  to  her  dominions,  there  will  be 
just  as  much  and  as  little  occasion  to  sympathize 


THE  EMPEROR  NICHOLAS.  173 

with  the  sons  of  Islam  as  with  the  Poles ;  as  they 
will  probably  be  allowed  to  retain  all  their  national 
nuisances,  and  only  exchange  one  padishah  for 
another.  It  is  vexatious  to  all  the  Philhellenes  in 
Christendom,  to  be  sure,  to  think  that  the  Turks  will 
not,  in  any  case,  be  driven  out  of  Europe  ;  but,  judg- 
ing of  the  future  by  the  past,  such  will  assuredly  be 
the  lamentable  fact. 

Finland,  Ingria,  Esthonia,  Livonia,  conquered 
from  Sweden  by  Peter  the  Great,  were  allowed  to 
retain  their  peculiar  privileges  and  institutions  for 
about  a  century,  when  they  were  modified  by  Alex- 
ander, very  much  for  the  better.  Courland,  and  the 
provinces  wrested  from  Poland,  enjoyed  the  same 
favor  till  some  of  them  forfeited  it  by  their  own 
folly.  Notwithstanding  these  exceptions,  the  form 
of  provincial  government  is  sufficiently  uniform. 

The  empire  is  divided  into  fourteen  general  gov- 
ernments, equivalent  to  vice-royalties,  between  fifty 
and  sixty  governments,  and  more  than  three  hun- 
dred and  twenty  districts,  not  including  the  ohlasts 
already  mentioned. 

The  general  governors  represent  the  emperor, 
and,  as  his  representatives,  command  the  forces,  and 
have  the  supreme  control  of  the  affairs  of  their  respec- 
tive governments,  civil  and  military.  All  public 
functionaries  within  their  jurisdictions  are  responsi^ 
ble,  and  must  make  their  reports,  to  them.  They 
sanction  or  suspend  the  judgments  of  the  several 
government  courts. 

To  each  civil  government  there  is  a  civil  gov- 
ernor, representing  the  governor-general  or  viceroy, 
and  responsible  to  him.  The  civil  governor  is 
assisted  by  a  council  of  regency,  to  which  all  meas- 
ures must  be  submitted.  A  vice-governor  takes  the 
place  of  the  civil  governor  in  case  of  absence  or 
15* 


174  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

sickness.  The  vice-governor  also  presides  over  a 
council  of  finance,  who  manage  the  estates  of  the 
crown  and  the  collection  of  the  revenue.  There  is 
also  a  council  of  general  provision,  answering  to  our 
overseers  of  the  poor,  and  having  the  direction  and 
inspection  of  all  public  charities,  prisons,  work- 
houses, and  schools  for  the  poor  :  likewise  a  college, 
or  board  of  health,  which  attends  to  such  matters 
as  its  designation  implies,  appoints  district  physi- 
cians, inspects  pharmacopoeias,  (fcc. 

The  districts  have  their  local  functionaries. 

The  towns  have  a  municipal  body,  elected  every 
three  years,  by  the  different  classes  of  the  popula- 
tion. This  looks  somewhat  like  training  and  prep- 
aration for  a  representative  system,  which  idea  is 
corroborated  by  the  unceasing  efforts  of  the  empe- 
rors to  create  a  middle  class,  from  Peter  the  Great 
down.  Each  town  has  also  either  a  bailiff  or  a 
commandant,  (according  to  its  corporative  impor- 
tance,) appointed  by  the  crown,  who  has  charge 
of  the  police,  executes  sentences,  pursues  crimi- 
nals, ifcc,  and  has  charge  of  the  public  buildings 
and  stores. 

The  Russian  judicial  system  is  complicated. 
There  are  civil  and  criminal  courts  in  every  circle, 
and  in  every  government  a  supreme  court,  divided 
into  civil  and  criminal  sections.  It  receives  ap- 
peals from  the  lower  courts,  and  its  sentence  is 
final  in  all  criminal  cases,  as  well  as  in  all  civil 
questions  about  sums  under  five  hundred  rubles. 
Higher  matters  must  go  to  the  senate. 

We  have  mentioned  the  emperor's  private  chan- 
cery. Something  like  it  has  existed  since  the  time 
of  Alexis,  the  father  of  Peter  the  Great.  The  crimes 
first  brought  before  it  were  attempts  against  the 
emperor's   life,  against   religion,   and   against   the 


THE    EMPEROR   NICHOLAS.  175 

state ;  but,  at  last,  it  took  in  all  crimes.  The  pro- 
cess began  with  the  arrest,  and  sometimes  ended 
with  the  execution,  of  the  accused.  It  was  a  ter- 
rible institution,  as  all  secret,  irresponsible  tribunals 
must  be ;  but  it  had  this  extenuating  feature,  — 
if  the  informer  failed  to  prove  his  charge,  he  was 
knouted  three  several  times ;  whence  it  may  be 
inferred,  that  few  men  cared  to  denounce  their 
neighbors  falsely.  If  the  accused  refused  to  plead, 
he  Avas  knouted.  Was  this  worse  than  the  peine 
forte  et  dure,  or  pressing  to  death,  of  English  juris- 
prudence ?  Both  were  bad  enough,  in  all  conscience. 
If  the  judge  was  not  convinced  by  either  party, 
they  were  both  knouted  again,  and  so  on,  till  their 
respective  guilt  or  innocence  became  a  question  of 
physical  endurance.* 

When  Peter  the  Great  went  to  the  senate  cham- 
ber, and  found  the  senators  all  absent  from  their 
posts,  he  taught  them  the  taste  of  an  imperial 
flogging,  with  his  own  hand,  which  was  not  a 
soft  or  a  light  one.  Peter  III.,  in  a  like  case, 
sharply  reproved  them.  Nicholas  I.,  finding  that 
neither  blows  nor  words  had  availed,  organized 
a  secret  chancery,  to  correct  the  abuses  insepar- 
able from  the  form  of  government.  It  is  not  a 
part  of  the  laws,  but  a  business  he  has  taken 
upon  himself  as  an  individual ;  and  the  institution 
is.  called  ''the  Private  Chancery  of  his  Majesty  the 
Emperor."  It  is  a  system  of  espionage  like  that  of 
Haroun  Alraschid,  and  precisely  similar  in  its  effects. 

In  this  country,  where  every  act  and  thought 
is  open  to  the  censure  and  correction  of  the  press 
and  the  law,  where  the  law  is  definite,  is  almost 
always  executed,  and,  sometimes,  with  strict  jus- 

*  Tooke's  Life  of  Catherine  II. 


176  VINDICATION     OF     RUSSIA     AND 

tice,  we  have  no  idea  of  the  necessity  of  a  secret 
police  in  an  empire  where  the  great  mass  are  in  the 
darkest  ignorance,  and  where  the  will  of  one  man 
is  the  best  and  surest  guaranty  against  wrong. 
Where  such  is  the  case,  it  is  unquestionably  of 
the  last  importance,  that  the  important  one  should 
know  what  wrongs  are  committed ;  and  how  is 
this  to  be  effected,  but  through  the  medium  of 
a  secret  police  ? 

It  will  be  objected  that,  supposing  the  emperor 
to  be  every  thing  heart  can  wish  in  a  ruler,  it  is 
impossible  for  him  to  be  made  acquainted  with  half 
the  wrong  that  takes  place  in  an  empire  of  sixty 
millions.  It  is  true  that  Nicholas  cannot  possibly 
know  all  the  misdoings  of  all  his  officers ;  but  the 
fact  that  no  one  of  them  can  sin  with  the  certain- 
ty that  his  crime  will  not  reach  the  imperial  ear, 
and  that  he  is  certain  it  will  be  punished  if  it 
does,  must  needs  be  a  powerful  check  upon  every 
individual.  Partridge's  illustration,  of  the  man 
with  a  pistol  against  a  thousand  unarmed  ones, 
applies  here. 

The  private  chancery  has  four  branches.  One 
watches  the  senators  and  other  great  officers  of 
state  ;  another  the  courts  of  law  ;  a  third  the  police  ; 
and  a  fourth  the  public  charities  ;  and  each  watches 
all  the  others.  It  is,  therefore,  exceedingly  difficult 
for  any  public  functionary  to  offend  unseen  by 
this  million-eyed  Argus.  Abuses  are  made  known 
to  the  emperor  almost  simultaneously  with  their 
commission.  Not  even  the  occasional  absence  of  a 
functionary  from  his  station  escapes  him.  It  is 
needless  to  say,  that  the  consequent  proceedings 
take  place  according  to  equity,  and  not  to  rule 
or  precedent. 

The  burden  of  this  appalling  responsibility,  the 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  177 

''  despot "  meets  with  order  and  method.  Each 
hour  of  his  every  day  has  its  own  work,  and 
Nicholas  does  it.  There  is  but  one  opinion  of 
his  capacity  for  business  among  friends  and  foes. 
No  fatigue  frightens  him ;  nothing  is  too  great  for 
his  vision,  or  small  enough  to  escape  it.  The  im- 
perial censor  alike  detects  the  gravest  malversation 
and  the  most  trifling  blunder  in  grammar;  and  the 
aberration  from  honesty  or  syntax  is  commonly 
brought  home  to  the  delinquent  within  twenty- 
four  hours. 

On  coming  home  at  night,  —  it  may  be  from  a 
review,  it  may  be  from  the  theatre,  —  the  emperor 
sits  down  to  his  work,  and  leaves  it  not  till  it  is 
done,  though  day  should  dawn,  the  while.  It  is 
said  that  his  incessant  application  to  business  has 
impaired  his  health.  For  the  sake  of  his  millions 
of  subjects,  we  hope  it  is  not  so.  i 

It  is  curious  that,  in  an  absolute  monarchy  and  a 
land  of  slavery,  the  functionaries  of  all  the  provin- 
cial tribunals  should  be  elective  !  The  superior 
court  of  a  circle  consists  of  a  judge  and  secretary, 
and  of  four  assessors,  two  chosen  by  the  nobles,  and 
two  by  the  burghers.  The  superior  court  of  jus- 
tice for  a  government,  which  is  divided  into  a  civil 
and  criminal  chamber,  has,  in  like  manner,  its  pres- 
ident, secretary,  and  four  assessors,  the  assessors 
chosen  in  the  same  way.  It  seems  to  be  the  prin- 
ciple, and  certainly  is  the  practice,  in  Russia,  that 
some  of  the  judges  in  every  court  should  be  of  the 
same  class  as  the  parties  on  whose  cases  they  are 
to  decide,  and  should  be  elected  for  the  purpose  by 
their  equals.  This  is  a  valuable  privilege  to  the 
nobles  and  burghers ;  but  is  of  no  use  to  the  peo- 
ple, whose  slavery  and  ignorance  preclude  them 
from  profiting  by  it  in  the  least.     Nevertheless,  as 


178  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

their  slavery  is  not  utter  and  remediless,  like  that  of 
our  negroes,  —  as  any  Russian  serf  may  become  a 
noble,  and  as  the  concentrated  effort  of  the  gov- 
ernment is  steadfastly  directed  to  their  exaltation, 
a  brighter  day  must  eventually  dawn  on  them  all. 

Before  the  reign  of  Catherine  II.,  the  judges, 
especially  of  the  lower  courts,  were  wretchedly 
paid.  She  increased  their  salaries.  Still,  paying 
judges  appointed  by  favor  and  removable  at  pleas- 
ure, and  without  any  fixed  code  of  laws  to  guide 
them,  would  not  prevent  great  abuses  in  the  admin- 
istration of  justice.  Peter  the  Great,  and  most  of 
his  successors,  tried  hard  to  collect  and  simplify 
the  laws  of  the  empire,  and  appointed  divers  com- 
missions for  that  purpose ;  but  the  task  was  found 
too  Herculean,  till  his  present  majesty  took  it  in 
hand.  Between  1826  and  1833,  was  published  the 
Swod  ZakonoiOj  or  ''  Body  of  Law,"  digested  by 
the  legislative  commission,  under  the  emperor's 
supervision  and  direction.  Considering  the  diffi- 
culty of  the  undertaking,  the  lack  of  assistance,  and 
the  short  time  in  which  it  was  accomplished,  the 
creation  of  the  Code  Napoleon  shrinks  into  insig- 
nificance in  comparison  with  the  achievement  of 
this  ''northern  barbarian."  The  following  is  an 
extract  from  the  imperial  manifesto  published  on 
the  completion  of  the  work :  — 

"Having  recognized,  on  our  accession  to  the 
throne,  the  indispensable  necessity  of  introducing 
into  the  whole  body  of  the  laws  of  our  country  a 
clear  and  systematic  order,  we  commanded,  in  an 
especial  manner,  that  they  should  be  collected,  and 
the  collection  published  entire  ;  and  we  further  an- 
nounced our  will  that  there  should  afterwards  be 
taken  out  from  the  mass,  for  the  purpose  of  form- 
ing a  body  of  uniform  and  regular  laws,  all  such 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  179 

laws  as  are  now  in  force  in  our  empire,  without 
changing  their  spirit  in  the  slightest  degree — the 
whole  to  be  strictly  pursued  on  the  basis  laid  down, 
in  the  year  1700,  by  Peter  the  Great. 

''  The  execution  of  the  first  part  of  this  plan  was 
finished  in  1830. 

*'  With  the  aid  of  the  Almighty,  and  after  seven 
years'  assiduous  labor,  carried  on  under  our  personal 
direction,  the  accomplishment  of  the  second  part  is 
now  terminated.  From  the  code  of  1649,  till  the 
1st  of  January,  1832,  all  the  laws  promulgated 
within  that  period  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-three 
years,  which  have  preserved  through  the  changes 
of  time,  even  to  our  days,  their  force  and  tenor, 
have  been  collected  and  classified  according  to 
their  nature,  only  leaving  out  such  clauses  as  have 
been  repealed  by  subsequent  laws ;  and  with  the 
exception  of  the  regulations  of  the  army  by  land 
and  sea,  and  some  others  hereafter  mentioned,  all 
these  laws  have  been  arranged  in  a  uniform  system, 
divided  into  codes  according  to  the  principal  dis- 
tinctions of  administrative  and  judiciary  affairs. 
All  the  laws  that  have  been  promulgated  after  the 
1st  of  January,  1832,  or  which  may  be  so  promul- 
gated in  the  ordinary  march  of  legislation,  will  be 
added  every  year,  in  a  supplement,  to  the  body  of 
laws,  according  to  the  order  of  the  above  codes, 
and  with  reference  to  the  proper  article  ;  so  that,  the 
general  system  of  laws  being  once  established,  it 
will  preserve  its  uniformity  and  identity  forever. 

"  The  most  pressing  and  essential  wants  in  the 
empire,  justice  and  order  in  the  administration,  im- 
periously demand  this  measure.  It  guaranties  the 
force  and  the  action  of  the  laws  for  the  present,  and 
establishes  a  solid  basis  for  their  gradual  perfecti- 
bility in  the  future.     It  fulfils,  in  fine,  the  wishes 


180  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

by  which  our  ancestors  have  been  animated  for  a 
period,  hardly  interrupted,  of  one  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-six years." 

We  opine  that  the  execution  of  this  undertaking 
places  the  Emperor  Nicholas  in  a  place  no  step  lower 
than  is  occupied  by  the  great  Peter.  Nay,  more ; 
if  he  had,  not  suppressed,  but  exterminated,  twenty 
such  aristocracies  as  the  Polish  nobility,  we  are 
resolute  that  the  Swod  Zakonow  would  more  than 
have  atoned  for  all. 

The  worst  feature  in  the  present  government  of 
Russia  is  undoubtedly  the  maladministration  of  the 
code  of  laws  the  emperor  has  given  his  people.* 
The  multiplication  of  dishonest  lawyers  is  as  great 
a  curse  to  this  country  as  war,  pestilence,  or 
famine.  What,  then,  must  be  the  misery  of  that 
country  where  every  man  is  allowed  to  practise, 
qualified  or  not  ?  We  have  asked  the  question  — 
we  answer  it.  It  is  stated  that,  in  1826,  there  were 
two  millions  eight  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  cases 
before  the  tribunals  of  the  empire :  one  of  every 
five  adult  males  must  have  been  at  law.  The  evil 
must  have  been  enormous,  even  allowing  fifty  per 
cent,  for  possible  exaggeration.  Legal  proceedings 
in  Russia  are  said  to  be  dilatory  in  the  extreme. 
The  prohibition  of  taking  fees  from  suitors  is  said  to 
be  generally  disregarded,  and  it  is  affirmed  that,  if 
justice  cannot  be  defeated,  it  can  at  least  be  indefi- 
nitely retarded,  by  money.  This  last  charge  will 
apply  here,  among  us  civilized  men,  and  we  are  only 
shielded  from  the  partial  application  of  the  first,  by 
public  opinion  and  the  guardian  power  of  the  press  ; 
for  high  salaries  will  not  put  all  judges  above  bri- 
bery.    When  the  emperor  ordered  a  report  on  the 

*  Polytechnic  Journal,  Feb.  1842. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  181 

inferior  magistrates  to  be  drawn  np  for  his  examina- 
tion, with  special  command  that  those  who  made  a 
traffic  of  justice  should  be  pointed  out,  the  docu- 
ment began  thus  :  "  Corruption  exists  among  all 
the  judges^  without  exception.^^ 

It  remains  for  the  Emperor  Nicholas  to  com- 
plete his  noble  work  by  the  training,  selection,  and 
payment  of  judges,  and  by  bringing  public  opinion 
to  bear  upon  them  ;  for  his  own  eye,  keen  as  it  is, 
cannot  see  every  thing ;  and  all  this  we  have  confi- 
dence in  him  to  believe  that  he  will  do,  should  his 
life  be  spared  long  enough  :  the  past  is  a  guaranty 
for  the  future. 

The  question,  therefore,  was  not  the  dismissal  of 
the  incompetent  and  corrupt ;  but  the  adoption  of  a 
radical  new  system.  Supposing  the  stipends  of  the 
incumbents  had  been  augmented  ;  would  that  have 
improved  their  integrity  ?  Certainly  not ;  and  there 
was  no  alternative  but  to  remould  and  remodel 
every  thing  —  the  laws,  and  the  judges  appointed  to 
dispense  them.  It  has,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
been  done  by  the  new  code,  in  which  the  emperor 
was  chiefly  indebted  to  the  assistance  of  Speranski, 
a  counsellor  of  state. 

The  police  of  Russia  were  formerly  very  numer- 
ous, and  are  still  very  effective.  They  have  various 
powers,  not  involved  in  their  ordinary  functions ; 
such  as  to  decide  differences  between  masters  and 
servants,  &c.  Crime  is  not  so  frequent  in  Russia 
as  in  most  other  nations  of  Europe,  and  property  is 
as  well  protected  there  as  elsewhere. 

Whatever  the  number  of  the  police  employed  in 
Russia  may  have  been,  even  so  late  as  ten  years  ago, 
(and  all  travellers  agree  that  it  was  very  great,)  every 
American  reader  will  be  astonished  to  learn  that  it 
does  not  now  exceed  two  thousand  men,  throughout 
16 


182  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

the  whole  vast  empire.  Incredible  as  the  fact  may 
appear,  it  has  been  verified  by  reference  to  the  gov- 
ernment estimates.  The  police  minister,  Count 
Beckendorf,  has  the  superintendence  of  all  police 
regulations,  and  is,  at  the  same  time,  director-gen- 
eral of  the  imperial  gendarmerie.  As  minister  of 
the  police,  he  plans  its  measures,  and,  as  command- 
ant of  the  gendarmes,  he  enforces  them  ;  and  yet 
the  force  at  his  disposal  is  neither  more  nor  less  than 
two  thousand  men.* 

Treason  is  the  only  crime  punished  with  death  in 
Russia;  for  other  such  crimes  as  are  atoned  capi- 
tally in  other  Christian  countries,  the  criminal  under- 
goes the  knout,  and  is  condemned  to  labor  for  life  in 
the  mines  of  Siberia.  The  commutation  does  not 
please  the  peasantry :  the  Russians  have  been  used 
to  brutal  treatment  for  so  many  ages ;  laziness,  the 
necessary  concomitant  of  slavery,  is  so  ingrained 
into  their  system,  that,  though  they  shrink  not  from 
the  knout,  they  prefer  death  to  labor  in  the  mines. 
The  greatest  difficulty  Catherine  II.  found  in  the 
abolition  of  the  torture  was  the  opposition  of  those 
most  liable  to  it ;  and,  when  Stephen  Bathory  would 
have  deprived  the  Lithuanian  nobles  of  the  privilege 
of  flogging  their  serfs,  the  serfs  themselves  besought 
him,  ''  that  his  majesty  would  graciously  be  pleased 
to  make  no  innovations."  Submission  is  so  much 
a  second  nature  to  them,  that  a  drunken  Russian 
will  crave  the  forgiveness  of  any  foreigner  for  his 
intoxication,  and  will  not  leave  him  till  he  has  ob- 
tained it.  *' During  the  Easter  diversions,"  says 
Kohl,  "  I  once  saw  a  drunken  man  take  off  his  hat 
in  the  public  market-place  before  the  governor,  fall 
on  his  knees,  and  seize  his  hand,  saying,  '  Ah !  I 
am  drunk,  your  excellency !  —  it  is  a  holiday  to-day ; 

•  Polytechnic  Journal,  Feb.  1842. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  183 

let  me  be  flogged :  I  have  drunk  too  much ;  I  be- 
seech your  excellency  to  let  me  be  punished  ; '  and 
the  governor  could  not  get  away  till  he  had  given 
the  man  a  sharp  reprimand." 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  any  endeavor  to 
elevate  the  Russian  serfs,  generally,  must  be  up-hill 
work. 


184  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

RELIGIOUS  CUSTOMS.  —  ANECDOTE  OF  PETER  THE 
GREAT.  —  RUSSIAN    CHURCHES.  — THE    KNOUT. 

The  patriarch,  once  supreme  in  all  ecclesiastical 
aiFairSj  was  elected  by  the  metropolitans,  the  arch- 
bishops, the  bishops,  and  the  inferior  clergy,  from 
among  the  monks  of  St.  Vassili,  subject  to  the  con- 
firmation of  the  czar.  Once,  he  depended  on  the 
see  of  Constantinople.  It  belonged  to  the  patriarch 
to  crown  the  czar,  and  to  regulate  all  spiritusd 
affairs,  by  the  ecclesiastical  tribunals,  which  were 
held  in  his  name.  He  was  styled  proto-archiman- 
drite  of  the  order  of  St.  Vassili.  The  pomp  and 
grandeur  of  this  prelate  were  all  but  incredible. 
On  Palm-Sunday,  his  day  of  solemn  procession, 
the  czars  led  his  horse  on  foot,  in  their  imperial 
purple,  while  the  people  fell  prostrate  before  him, 
like  Tartars  before  the  grand  lama. 

The  power  of  the  patriarch  was  almost  equal  to 
the  czar's.  God  and  St.  Nicholas  were  the  primary 
objects  of  the  people's  adoration,  and  after  them  the 
czar  and  the  patriarch,  who  could  inflict  the  most 
inhuman  tortures,  and  pass  sentence  of  death,  with- 
out appeal. 

Next  the  patriarch  ranked  the  metropolitans  of 
Novgorod,  Kasan,  Rostow,  and  Sark ;  then  came 
the  archbishops  of  Vologda,  Tver,  Astrachan,  Si- 
beria, Archangel,  and  Pskof ;  and  after  them  the 
bishops  of  Viatka  and  Colunona.  There  were 
about  fifty  archimandrites,  or  abbots,  and  a  prodi- 
gious number  of  proto-papas  (provosts)  and  papas, 
(priests.) 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  187 

nant  at  the  trespass,  and  did  not  always  limit  their 
resentment  to  cursing  and  reviling.  Sometimes, 
they  even  sought  damages  at  law.  The  scandal 
this  practice  occasioned  was  the  cause  that  private 
pictures  were  removed  from  the  churches,  and  the 
more  enlightened  church  party  consoled  themselves, 
for  the  presence  of  those  that  remained,  with  the 
reflection  that  pictures  did  not  come  within  the 
mischief  of  the  second  commandment. 

There  were,  and  are,  images  in  some  of  the 
churches,  however,  though  it  does  not  appear  that 
they  were  ever  worshipped.  There  was  a  miracu- 
lous one,  of  the  Virgin,  in  the  church  of  the  Trinity. 
This  virgin  was  said  to  weep  at  the  changes  the 
energy  of  Peter  was  effecting.  But  Peter  was 
not  a  man  to  be  wept  from  his  purposes.  He 
paid  the  church  a  visit ;  and  at  his  nigh  approach, 
the  disconsolate  virgin  wept  like  another  Niobe. 
After  gravely  regarding  the  indisputable  miracle, 
the  czar  coolly  stepped  up  to  the  pedestal,  and  lift- 
ed the  lady's  head-gear.  The  top  of  the  head 
came  off"  with  it,  and  lo !  the  head  contained  a  basin 
filled  with  water  to  the  level  of  the  eyes.  The 
pedestal  was  purposely  made  rickety,  and  when- 
ever it  was  shaken  by  an  advancing  foot,  the  water 
trickled  from  the  small  punctures  in  the  Madon- 
na's eyes.  "  That  is,  indeed,  a  very  fine  image," 
said  the  czar,  as  he  gravely  readjusted  the  miracle, 
and  turned  away.  Punishment  was  unnecessary, 
or  rather,  the  exposure  was  sufficient  punishment. 
McCulloch  is  wrong  in  stating  that  "  all  statues, 
bas-reliefs,"  &c.,  are  rigidly  excluded  from  the  Rus- 
so-Greek  churches.  Leitch  Ritchie  saw  an  image 
of  the  Virgin  in  the  cathedral  church  of  the  As- 
sumption at  Moscow,  and  many  others.  There  is 
an  image  of  St.  Nicholas  in  the  Kremlin  at  Nikol- 


188  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

skoi  gale.  The  stranger  who  forgets  to  uncover 
to  this  image  risks  having  his  hat  pulled  from  his 
head. 

The  bishops  were  also  to  observe  ''  whether 
priests  and  deacons,  and  the  lower  ecclesiastics,  fre- 
quented brothels,  or  were  noisy  in  the  streets  when 
drunk,  or,  v/hat  is  v/orse,  whoop  and  halloo  in  their 
drink  in  church,  &c. ;  or,  what  is  intolerably  shame- 
ful, whether  they  fight  in  the  boikulachni,^^  (a  spar- 
ring match  in  the  streets  with  gloves,  of  which  the 
peasants  were  very  fond.)* 

That  the  clerical  profession  is  not  a  guaranty  of 
sobriety  in  Russia,  even  to  this  day,  appears  from 
the  following  extract  from  a  letter  from  M.  de 
Sabouref  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Venables,  author  of 
"  Domestic  Scenes  in  Russia." 

"  The  Russian  peasant  is  deeply  imbued  with 
a  reverence  for  religion,  and  is  not  so  much  super- 
stitious as  thoroughly  ignorant.  He  kisses  the 
hand  of  his  parish  priest,  but  he  laughs  at  his  fail- 
ings, and  is  quite  able  to  make  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  man  and  his  office.  Of  this  I  can  give 
you  a  very  characteristic  anecdote.  Passing  one 
day  near  a  large  group  of  peasants,  who  were  as- 
sembled in  the  middle  of  the  village,  I  asked  them 
what  was  going  forward. 

"  '  We  are  putting  the  father  into  a  cellar.' 

"  '  Into  a  cellar !  '  I  replied  ;  '  what  are  you  doing 
that  for  ? ' 

'"  O,'  said  they,  '  he  is  a  sad  drunkard,  and  has 
been  drunk  this  whole  week  ;  so  we  always  take 
care  every  Saturday  to  put  him  in  a  safe  place,  that 
he  may  be  fit  to  officiate  at  church  next  day ;  and 
on  Monday  he  is  at  liberty  to  begin  drinking 
again.'  " 

*  Leitch  Ritchie. 


THE  EMPEROR  NICHOLAS.  185 

The  Christian  precepts  read,  and  the  psalms  sung, 
in  the  churches,  were  in  Sclavonian,  very  few  of 
the  clergy  knowing  Latin.  Any  baptism  but  triple 
immersion  was  held  of  no  avail.  They  received 
the  eucharist  in  both  kinds,  and  administered  it  to 
children  of  seven  years,  whom  they  thought  capa- 
ble of  sin  at  that  age.  They  rejected  the  doctrine 
of  purgatory,  but  held  with  confession,  the  sign  of 
the  cross,  processions,  and  many  other  ceremonies 
of  the  Catholic  church.  Confession,  however,  was 
only  practised  after  the  commission  of  enormous 
crimes,  when  absolution  appeared  necessary  to  the 
sinner,  but  not  repentance.  The  benediction  of 
the  papa  once  obtained,  he  believed  himself  pure  in 
the  sight  of  Heaven.  Thus  the  Russian  trans- 
gressor left  the  confessional  to  cut  a  throat  or  pick 
a  pocket  ;  and  what  to  other  Christians  was  a  curb 
and  a  restraint,  was  to  him  an  encouragement  to 
persevere  in  iniquity. 

They  had  a  great  many  fasts,  which  they  ob- 
served very  rigidly.  They  would  not  even  drink 
milk  on  fast  days  ;  but  heads  of  families,  girls,  mar- 
ried women,  and  the  papas  themselves,  made  no 
scruple  of  getting  drunk  at  other  times.  This  will 
not  be  considered  incredible  if  we  refer  to  the 
^'  spiritual  regulation "  of  Peter  the  Great.  It 
seems,  it  was  common  for  men  to  marry  in  drunken 
frolics  —  the  time  when  a  Russian  is  peculiarly, 
characteristically,  and  nationally,  loving  and  affec- 
tionate. In  such  cases,  the  sobered  and  repentant 
sinner  was  admonished  by  the  regulation  not  to 
marry  a  second  wife  before  he  had  laid  the  matter 
before  a  papa.  "  But  if  the  priest  himself,"  pro- 
ceeds the  regulation,  "  happens  to  be  in  the  same 
predicament,  the  matter  must  go  before  the  Spirit- 
ual College." 

16* 


186  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

It  also  appears,  from  the  same  instrument,  that 
hundreds  took  priests'  orders  solely  that  they  might 
revel  in  drunkenness  and  debauchery;  and  the  bish- 
op was  specially  enjoined  to  ascertain,  before  or- 
daining a  candidate,  that  he  was  not  a  vagabond, 
or  superstitious,  or  a  huckster  of  pictures  of  the 
saints,  which  priests  were  allowed  to  barter,  but  not 
to  sell  for  money.  The  law  is  still  extant  ;  but  as 
wholly  disregarded  in  Russia  as  the  license  law  in 
Boston  and  New  York.  There  is  no  difference,  in 
this  respect,  even  in  "  holy  "  Moscow,  between  the 
saint-market  and  the  fish-market.* 

To  account  for  this,  it  is  necessary  to  state  that 
every  family  has  the  pictures  of  its  tutelar  saints 
conspicuously  placed  in  its  apartments ;  and  if  the 
visitor  happens  not  to  perceive  them,  he  immedi- 
ately asks  for  the  saints,  whom  he  salutes  before  the 
master  of  the  house.  The  most  ardent  lover  dares 
not  receive  a  kiss  from  his  mistress,  be  the  moment 
never  so  critical,  without  first  covering  the  saints, 
that  they  may  not  be  scandalized.  These  saints 
were,  and  perhaps  are,  carried  to  funerals ;  and  it 
was  usual  for  the  metropolitan  to  put  into  the  coffin 
a  certificate,  addressed  to  St.  Nicholas,  of  the  upright 
walk  and  conversation  of  the  deceased ;  now,  it  is 
a  prayer  and  confession  of  faith. 

It  was  common  and  general  for  private  individ- 
uals to  hang  up  these  pictures  in  the  churches, 
while  they  still  reserved  to  themselves  a  private 
right  of  property  in  the  saint.  They  placed  him 
there,  because  they  could  not  afford  him  a  suitable 
temple  themselves,  without  any  notion  of  his  lis- 
tening to  the  prayers  of  others.  If,  therefore,  they 
caught  a  neighbor  adoring  him,  they  were  indig- 

•  Leitch  Ritchie. 


THE    EMPEROR   NICHOLAS.  189 

It  would  seem,  too,  that  the  piety  of  the  Rus- 
sian peasantry  is  very  much  on  a  par  with  that  of 
the  same  class  in  most  Catholic  countries.  A  petty 
trader  had  occasion  to  call  on  an  English  merchant 
on  the  evening  of  St.  Nicholas's  day.  The  Eng- 
lishman told  him  to  call  "  to-morrow."  "  To-mor- 
row !  "  cried  the  indignant  Russ  ;  '^  why  !  you  are 
worse  than  an  infidel.  The  very  Tartars  will 
spend  all  the  money  they  have  to-morrow  in  getting 
drunk  to  the  honor  of  St.  Nicholas !  "  * 

Kruilow,  the  Russian  ^sop,  gives  us  the  following 
fable,  illustrative  of  the  way  in  which  the  Russian 
fasts  are  kept.  "  The  injunction  is,  '  Ye  shall  not 
eat  any  kind  of  flesh  on  fast  days,  nor  shall  ye  boil 
eggs  in  water  upon  your  hearths,  and  eat  such 
eggs.'  A  peasant  who  had  no  notion  of  denying 
himself  eggs  on  a  strict  fast  day,  drove  a  nail  in- 
to the  wall,  and  hung  an  egg  upon  it  by  a  wire, 
under  which  he  set  a  lighted  lamp,  and  so  cooked 
it.  Being  caught  in  the  act  by  the  priest,  he  al- 
leged that  he  had  not  supposed  he  was  breaking 
the  commandment.  '  The  devil  must  have  taught 
you  that ! '  cried  the  indignant  priest.  '  O  yes, 
father,'  replied  the  offender,  'forgive  me,  and  I 
will  confess ;  the  devil  did  teach  it  to  me.* 
'  That's  a  lie  ! '  roared  the  devil,  who  had  been 
chuckling  at  the  eggs  behind  the  stove,  '  I  did  not 
teach  him,  father,  indeed ;  for,  on  my  sacred  honor, 
I  never  heard  of  the  trick  till  now.'  " 

This  is  but  a  fable  ;  but  if  evasion,  of  the 
church's  commands  had  not  been  common,  Kruilow 
never  would  have  written  it. 

But  what  if  there  were,  what  if  there  are  ignorance 
and  drunkenness  among  the  Russo-Greek  clergy  ? 
Has  there  been  none  in  the  Catholic  priesthood,  or 

*  Richardson, 


190  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

the  Church  of  England  ?  Were  it  not  better  that 
drunkenness  (not  to  speak  of  ignorance,  of  which 
we  have  no  lack  at  home)  were  prevalent  among 
the  American  clergy,  than  that  we  should  open 
with  every  mail  an  account  of  some  adultery  or 
other  crime  committed  by  some  American  servant 
of  the  altar  ?  Let  us  look  at  home  before  we  de- 
ride the  Russian  clergy  !  and  let  all  Christendom  do 
the  same. 

Amidst  all  their  ignorance  and  superstition, 
among  all  their  ridiculous  customs  and  ceremonies, 
the  Russians  had  some  that  were  significant  and  in- 
structive. They  crowned  newly-married  persons 
with  wormwood,  emblematic  of  the  bitterness  of 
marriage,  and  sprinkled  them  with  hops,  the  type 
of  fruitfulness.  They  covered  the  bride's  eyes 
with  a  veil,  to  signify  that  she  ought  to  be  blind  to 
her  husband's  faults.  Their  laws  did  not  forbid 
bigamy  ;  yet  the  few  who  practised  it  were  looked 
upon  as  the  shame  and  dishonor  of  their  families. 

The  worst  trait  of  former  Russian  barbarism, 
however,  was  the  low  estimate  placed  on  the  bet- 
ter sex.  Travellers  tell  us  (and  they  are  too  nu- 
merous and  too  unanimous  to  be  all  and  altogether 
in  error)  that  they  considered  female  virtue  to  be 
like  sal  volatile^  only  to  be  preserved  by  close  con- 
finement ;  and  therefore  enjoined  their  wives  and 
daughters  to  stay  always  within  doors,  and  abstain 
from  all  conversation  with  men.  The  more  rude 
and  uncouth  the  woman,  they  thought,  the  better 
the  wife.  The  husband  might  kill  her  by  immod- 
erate correction  —  which  assuredly  is  a  certain  way 
to  correct  any  body  — without  incurring  the  penalty 
of  the  law.  They  might  put  them  away  for  bar- 
renness, and  compel  them  to  enter  the  cloister ;  and 
yet  the  Russian  wives  were   generally  proud  of 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  191 

their  husbands'  jealousy  and  brutality.  We  could 
scarcely  believe  this,  if  we  had  not  seen  Irishmen 
tried  for  beating  their  wives.  It  was  not  till  the 
beginning  of  Peter's  reign  that  fathers  stipulated, 
in  marriage  contracts,  that  their  daughters  should 
not  be  starved  or  unmercifully  cudgelled.  Women 
who  destroyed  their  tyrants  were  set  in  the  ground 
and  starved  to  death  ;  and  we  may  believe  that 
where  such  was  the  lot  of  women,  this  horrid  pun- 
ishment was  often  incurred. 

There  seems  to  have  been  very  little  Christianity 
in  Russia,  as  the  word  is  now  understood,  till  the 
seventeenth  century.  It  is  a  little  singular  that  a 
despotic  prince  should  have  been  its  apostle.  We 
do  not  wonder  that  the  Russian  clergy  of  his  day 
did  not  canonize  him  ;  though  he  did  more  for 
Christianity  than  St.  Augustin,  St.  Patrick,  or  St. 
Andrew  ;  but  he  will  one  day  be  canonized  in  the 
hearts  of  all  sincere  Russian  Christians  ;  indeed,  he 
is  already.  At  some  future  time,  too,  the  people  of 
Poland  will  erect  a  statue  to  the  Emperor  Nicholas 
—  we  do  not  mean  the  nobility. 

Peter's  spiritual  regulation  directed  the  Spiritual 
College  to  "  compare  the  history  of  saints,  whether 
some  of  them  were  not  lying  devices,  or  fabulous 
and  ridiculous  stories."  Such  things,  he  thought, 
ought  to  be  discountenanced  ;  the  more,  that  "  es- 
pecially the  simple  folk  can  scarce  distinguish  the 
right  hand  from  the  left  ;  but  firmly  and  pertina- 
ciously maintain  whatever  they  see  written  in  a 
book."  He  also  condemned  the  superstition  that 
forbade  working  on  Friday,  lest  Panitza  (the  Venus 
of  heathen  Russia)  should  be  angry.  This  god- 
dess walked  in  the  ecclesiastical  processions  of  Little 
Russia,  even  at  that  time,  in  the  guise  of  a  woman 
with  dishevelled  hair,  and  was  led  into  the 
churches  to  be  worshipped  bv  the  Deonle. 


l92 


VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 


It  was  a  current  belief  that  a  man  buried  in  the 
Pecherskoi  monastery  would  be  saved,  even  if  he 
had  died  impenitent.  In  another  place,  it  was  the 
custom  to  pray  before  an  oak,  and  the  papa  shook 
the  boughs  over  the  people's  heads,  as  he  pro- 
nounced the  benediction.  The  college  was  also 
commanded  to  inquire  into  the  ''  infinite  number 
of  fables  "  about  holy  relics. 

Certain  bishops,  being  in  want  of  money,  placed 
an  image  in  a  desert,  and  pretended  that  it  wrought 
miracles.  The  regulation  emphatically  condemned 
their  conduct. 

"The  bishop,"  says  the  regulation,  "ought  to 
command  his  servants  to  behave  themselves  order- 
ly and  soberly  in  the  cities  and  monasteries  he 
visits,  and  to  commit  no  outrage ;  especially  not 
to  exact  from  monks  and  popes  too  great  a  quan- 
tity of  meat  and  drink  for  themselves,  or  of  prov- 
ender for  their  horses ;  especially  that  they  attempt 
not  to  rob,  on  pain  of  being  severely  chastised ;  for 
the  servants  of  bishops  are  usually  a  dissolute  herd  ; 
and  when  they  observe  their  lord  to  have  any 
authority,  like  wild  Tartars  they  impudently  fall 
to  pillage." 

It  was  the  custom  of  the  choristers  to  sing  sev- 
eral hymns  at  the  same  instant,  to  save  time,  and 
for  the  priests,  when  summoned  to  the  sick  beds 
of  people  of  little  note,  to  send  them  their  prayers 
in  the  messenger's  hat. 

Richardson,  the  author  of  "Anecdotes  of  Rus- 
sia," who  travelled  in  the  reign  of  Catherine  II., 
relates  a  laughable  anecdote  of  this  kind  of  pro- 
jectile prayer.  —  "At  Easter,  after  Lent,  the  Russo- 
Greek  Christians  indulge  in  the  wildest  revelry; 
but  not  till  the  parish  priest  has  taken  off  the  ob- 
ligation to  fast,  and  blessed  the  house  at  each  of 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS,  193 

its  four  corners.  It  so  chanced  that,  in  raising  the 
injunction  in  a  certain  village,  the  priest  purposely 
passed  the  door  of  a  parishioner  who  had  offended 
him,  without  stopping.  The  man,  on  his  return 
home,  finding  himself  neglected,  consulted  with 
his  wife,  who  was  no  better  pleased  to  eat  fish 
and  keep  sober,  while  their  neighbors  were  feast- 
ing or  getting  drunk,  than  he  was ;  and  the  best 
method  their  conjugated  wisdom  could  devise  to 
get  out  of  the  dilemma  was,  to  make  the  pastor  a 
present  of  a  fine  goose. 

^'  It  so  chanced  that  the  papa  had  gone  to  another 
village,  where  he  was  to  officiate  the  next  morning, 
and  it  was  impossible  to  return  and  bless  the  house. 
Nevertheless,  the  goose  was  a  temptation  irresistible, 
and  sharpened  his  ingenuity.  He  took  the  peas- 
ant's cap,  breathed  four  blessings  in  it,  replaced  it  on 
his  head,  and  told  him  to  hasten  back  and  shake 
it,  upside  down,  at  each  corner  of  the  cabin,  and 
that  should  be  his  dispensation." 

It  was  the  custom  in  Lent  to  give  theatrical 
representations  of  the  resurrection  in  the  churches, 
where  Christ,  and  the  women  to  whom  he  showed 
himself,  were  duly  represented. 

In  one  part  of  the  regulation,  we  think  we  see 
Hamlet  directing  the  players:  "A  preacher  has 
no  need  to  tug  and  heave,  as  if  he  were  tugging  at 
the  oar  in  a  boat.  He  has  no  need  to  clap  his 
hands  —  to  set  his  arms  a-kimbo  —  or  to  bounce, 
or  spring,  or  to  giggle  and  laugh ;  or  any  reason  for 
howlings  and  hideous  lamentations." 

Such  were  the  manners  of  the  Russian  priest- 
hood a  century  ago ;  for,  with  whatever  distrust 
we  may  regard  the  statements  of  travellers,  there 
is  no  rebutting  the  testimony  of  Peter  the  Great. 
Their  manners,  at  least,  have  since  undergone  much 
17 


194  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

improvement.  During  the  three  months  that  Leitch 
Ritchie  was  ^'  industriously  frequenting  every  kind 
of  assembly  of  the  people,  he  never  saw  an  ec- 
clesiastic otherwise  than  respectable,  either  in  his 
dress  or  conduct."  This,  however,  is  only  the 
church  keeping  pace  with  the  general  spread  of 
civilization.  It  does  not  appear  that  a  papa  gains 
any  additional  respect  by  sobriety,  nor  is  he  more 
familiarly  received  in  the  houses  of  the  upper 
classes  than  formerly. 

The  monks  of  St.  Vassili  engrossed  all  the  ec- 
clesiastical preferments  ;  but  the  lower  clergy  were 
of  and  with  the  people,  and,  of  course,  their  char- 
acter was  that  of  the  people.  In  this,  they  were 
unlike  the  Polish  clergy,  who  were  of  the  nobility, 
and,  having  no  feeling  or  interest  in  common  with 
the  people,  did  nothing  to  ameliorate  their  condi- 
tion. Early  travellers,  when  they  deplored  the 
degradation  of  the  clergy,  were  not  aware  that 
they  were  describing  the  whole  people.  The  ig- 
norance of  church  and  lay  being  equal,  there  could 
be  little  reciprocal  improvement. 

The  mighty  intellect  of  Peter  always  grasped 
the  truth'  at  once.  While  he  reformed  the  church 
government,  and  the  morals  of  the  clergy,  he  saw 
that  this  was  enough,  and  that  it  was  inexpedient 
and  unsafe  to  attack  any  point  of  their  doctrine. 
There  was  a  great  outcry  against  his  reforms 
among  the  lower  clergy,  whose  vices  he  attacked. 
Peter,  nevertheless,  put  down  whatever  was  inju- 
rious in  the  conduct  of  the  papas  with  a  strong 
hand ;  but  he  was  tolerant  to  what  did  no  harm. 

He  cudgelled  the  papas  with  his  own  imperial 
hand ;  but  he  did  not  venture  to  attack  the  pictures 
of  the  saints ;  their  presence  in  the  houses  of  the 
peasants  injured  no  one ;  they  were  as  dear  to  the 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  195 

people  as  their  beards.  He  spared  them,  though 
his  synod  petitioned  to  have  them  removed  from 
the  churches.  Nicon,  the  patriarch,  destroyed 
himself  by  interfering  with  these  popular  gods. 

Such  was  once  the  state  of  religion,  and  the 
church,  in  Russia  •  and  it  does  not  appear  that  they 
have  improved  in  any  thing  like  an  equal  degree 
with  the  other  institutions  of  the  empire  :  yet  — 

The  Greek  creed  has  about  50,000,000  of  vo- 
taries in  Russia.  The  principal  points  in  which 
it  differs  from  the  Roman  church  are,  its  denial  of 
the  pope's  authority,  spiritual  and  temporal;  its 
enjoining  church  and  lay  to  study  the  Scriptures  in 
the  vernacular,  and  its  prohibition  of  celibacy  in 
the  clergy.  This  latter  requisition  is  carried  to  the 
length  that  no  priest  can  discharge  any  spiritual 
function  before  he  is  married,  or  after  he  becomes 
a  Avidower.  He  is  not,  however,  allowed  to  marry 
a  second  time,  and,  therefore,  his  sacerdotal  char- 
acter and  his  wife  expire  together,  unless  he  is 
specially  licensed  to  continue  to  officiate  by  his 
bishop.  A  widowed  priest  has,  in  recompense,  the 
barren  consolation  of  being  permitted  to  enter  a 
monastery,  and  never  to  aspii'fe  to  the  highest  dig- 
nities of  the  church. 

The  Russian  church  was  subordinate  to  that  of 
the  Eastern  empire,  and  received  its  patriarch  from 
the  metropolitan  of  Constantinople,  as  we  have  al- 
ready said,  till  that  city  was  taken  by  the  Turks; 
after  which,  the  Russian  clergy  made  their  own 
nomination,  always  from  among  the  monks  of 
St.  Vassili.  This  state  of  things  continued  till 
Peter  the  Great  declared  himself  the  head  of  the 
church,  and  appointed  a  holy  synod  to  govern  it ; 
which  still  continues. 

The  clergy  are  either  secular  or  regular  —  the 


196  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

former  comprising  the  parochial  priesthood,  and  the 
latter  the  high  ecclesiastical  dignitaries,  monks, 
&c.  The  hierarchy  is  composed  of  bishops,  arch- 
bishops, and  metropolitans,  and  there  are  thirty^ 
eight  dioceses  in  all. 

No  country  in  Christendom  has  so  many  fine 
churches  as  Russia.  The  meanest  village  has  its 
temple,  with  gilt  dome  and  spire.  These  edifices 
are  almost  all  substantially  built  of  brick,  in  the 
Grecian  style  of  architecture,  plastered  and  painted 
with  much  care  and  taste,  in  striking  contrast 
with  the  dwelling-houses.  Throughout  Russia, 
there  are  almost  500  cathedrals  and  about  29,000 
churches  belonging  to  the  established  faith,  which 
give  employment  to  about  70,000  clergymen. 
Moreover,  there  are  over  550  convents,  of  which 
70  are  for  women.  Each  church  has  a  lofty  belfry, 
and  large  bells,  of  which  the  Russians  are  immod- 
erately fond.  A  chime  of  fine  ones  may  be  found 
in  every  steeple,  to  be  rung  several  times  during 
every  service^  and  without  intermission  on  holidays. 

In  Russia,  as  in  every  other  Christian  country, 
the  piety  or  superstition  of  individuals  had  greatly 
enriched  the  monasteries.  Peter  the  Great  availed 
himself  of  the  abuses  this  occasioned  to  deprive 
them  of  their  wealth;  and  Catherine  II.  completed 
the  degradation  of  the  clergy  by  appropriating  the 
whole  immovable  property  of  the  church  to  the 
use  of  the  state,  and  assigning  pensions  to  the 
functionaries  to  whom  it  had  belonged,  in  its  stead. 

Still,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  livings  in 
Moscow  and  St.  Petersburg,  the  stipends  of  the 
clergy,  even  with  the  perquisites  of  their  functions, 
and  the  offerings  of  the  people,  are  insufficient  to 
support  them  comfortably.  The  whole  number  of 
the  established  clergy  is  about  254,000  j  and  so 


THE  EMPEROR  NICHOLAS.  197 

small  is  the  sum  appropriated  to  pay  them,  that 
they  are  almost  wholly  dependent  upon  their  flocks, 
as,  perhaps,  they  should  be.  The  income  of  the 
senior  metropolitan,  the  chief  of  the  hierarchy,  did 
not,  lately,  exceed  600  or  700  pounds  a  year,  and 
an  archimandrite,  or  abbot,  got  but  180  or  225 
dollars.*  Beside  the  "  surplice  fee,"  which,  in 
rich  benefices,  may  amount  to  90  annual  dollars, 
and,  in  poor  ones,  to  20,  they  have  but  a  wooden 
house,  not  much  better  than  those  of  their  parish- 
ioners, and  a  little  land,  which  they  cultivate  with 
their  own  hands.  The  highest  dignity  they  can 
attain — unless  they  become  widoAvers  —  is  that  of 
prototype  of  a  cathedral,  with  a  salary  of  about  90 
dollars  a  year.f  While  such  is  their  depression,  we 
need  not  wonder  at  the  grossness  or  vulgarity  of 
the  great  bulii  of  the  clergy,  which  is  not,  how- 
ever, more  glaring  in  them  than  in  the  itinerant 
gospellers  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States. 

The  severity  of  the  climate  of  the  northern  parts 
of  Russia,  and  the  inferior  grade  of  the  clergy  in  the 
social  scale,  make  it  customary  for  the  Russian  no- 
bility to  celebrate  those  religious  ceremonies  which, 
in  other  countries,  are  performed  in  churches,  in 
their  houses.  On  such  occasions,  it  is  an  important 
point  that  the  rank  of  the  officiating  priest  should 
correspond  with  that  of  the  master  of  the  house. 
For  a  simple  gentleman,  for  example,  a  deacon 
may  do ;  but  a  prince,  or  a  senator,  must  have  a 
bishop. 

None  but  the  sons  of  clergymen  are  educated  for 
the  church,  and  the  instances  are  exceedingly  rare 
of  persons  belonging  to  any  other  class  enrolling 
themselves  among  the  secular  clergy.     The  regu- 

*  Pinkerton's  Russia.  t  Coxe. 

17* 


198  VINDICATION    OP    RUSSIA    AND 

lar,  or  dignified  clergy,  on  the  contrary,  often 
receive  recruits  from  among  the  nobility  and  other 
classes. 

Orders,  and  other  marks  of  distinction,  are  con- 
ferred on  the  regular  clergy,  and  a  bishop  who  has 
not  the  star  and  ribbon  of  some  order  of  knighthood 
is  little  regarded. 

The  invocation  of  saints,  as  mediators,  subordi- 
nate to  Christ,  is  enjoined. 

The  mysteries,  or  sacraments,  are  seven. 

Baptism  is  performed  on  the  eighth  day  after 
birth,  and  never,  on  any  account,  repeated.  It  is 
held  so  important,  that,  if  there  be  no  priest  at 
hand,  any  person  may  perform  the  rite.  Chrism  is 
anointing  with  oil,  immediately  after  baptism,  and 
is  called  "  the  seal  of  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost.'' 
The  priest,  in  anointing  the  child,  makes  the  sign 
of  the  cross  on  his  forehead,  eyes,  nostrils,  mouth, 
ears,  breast,  hands,  and  feet,  repeating  at  each  sign, 
"The  seal  of  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  The 
child's  hair  is  then  cut  crosswise.  The  priest 
wraps  up  some  locks  of  it  in  Avax,  and  throws 
them  into  a  pond.  After  seven  days,  the  young 
Christian  is  brought  back  to  be  publicly  washed  by 
him. 

Transubstantiation  is  one  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
Russo-Greek  church  ;  only  the  wine  must  be  mixed 
with  warm  water,  the  bread  must  be  sopped  in  it, 
and  the  mixture  must  be  exhibited  with  a  spoon. 
The  priests  take  the  elements  separately.  The 
table-cloth  is  consecrated  by  a  bishop,  and  must 
have  some  particle  of  the  relics  of  a  martyr  woven 
into  the  web. 

The  other  sacraments  are  marriage,  confession, 
ordination,  and  extreme  unction. 

Marriage  has  two  consecutive  parts,  the  espou- 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  199 

sals,  and  the  matrimonial  coronation.  At  the  es- 
pousals, the  priest  places  rings  on  the  fingers  of  the 
parties,  with  many  prayers,  and  the  paranymphus 
shifts  them  from  the  one  to  the  other.  At  the  cor- 
onation, the  priest  crowns  them  with  a  tin,  or  silver 
crown,  (it  was  formerly  with  flowers,)  saying, 
"  The  servant  of  God  is  crowned  for  the  hand- 
maid of  God,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  the  Son, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost."  The  mutual  cup  is  then 
given ;  they  walk  three  times  in  a  circle ;  the 
crowns  are  taken  off,  and  they  salute  each  other. 
In  eight  days,  they  return  to  the  church,  and  their 
crowns  are  "dissolved"  by  prayer. 

If  the  Russo-Greek  creed  promotes  agricultural 
labor  by  enjoining  a  vegetable  diet  on  its  professors 
for  fifteen  or  sixteen  sure  days  in  the  year,  their  cal- 
endar is  singularly  unfavorable  to  the  improvement 
of  agriculture.  The  Russian  peasants  regulate  their 
whole  lives,  and  especially  the  acts  of  their  domes- 
tic economy,  by  the  calendar,  and  not  by  the  laws 
of  nature.  Cattle  are  turned  out,  for  example,  not 
when  there  is  grass  for  them  to  eat,  but  on  St. 
Stephen's  day,  when  the  priest  sprinkles  them  with 
holy  water,  and  blesses  them,  by  which  they  are, 
no  doubt,  greatly  benefited.  To  insure  the  coun- 
tenance of  St.  Gregory,  they  begin  ploughing  on 
his  day,  no  matter  whether  the  season  be  backward 
or  forward,  or  what  the  weather  is.  Apples  are 
gathered,  not  when  they  are  ripe,  but  on  the  festi- 
val of  the  Virgin,  in  August.  Before  that,  apples 
are  poisonous,  but,  afterwards,  green  fruit  will  not 
hurt  a  child  at  the  breast ;  and  if  it  dies  of  flux  or 
inflammation,  "  why,  it  was  God's  will,  and  there 
is  nothing  more  to  be  said  about  it."  The  drovers 
of  the  south  (tschumaks)  all  set  out  on  Shrove 
Tuesday,  because  the  roads  are   then   good ;   and 


200  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

about  the  first  of  October,  they  return  home,  be- 
cause, after  Pakrowi,  (a  festival  at  that  time,)  it  is 
not  safe  to  be  abroad,  on  account  of  evil  spirits. 
TraveUing  is  regulated  in  the  same  way,  winter 
and  summer.* 

Coxe  tells  us  that,  when  he  was  in  Russia, 
many  of  the  priests  could  not  read  the  gospel 
they  preached,  even  in  their  own  language.  Such 
gross  ignorance  is  not  common  now.  The  duties 
of  the  Russian  clergy  are  exceedingly  laborious. 
Dr.  Pinkerton  says  that  a  peculiar  degree  of  cul- 
ture and  good  manners  is  to  be  found  in  the  fami- 
ly circle  of  the  parochial  clergy,  who  form  a  distinct 
caste,  as  they  necessarily  must,  from  the  circum- 
stances before  stated. 

Hear  this,  ye  who  run  to  the  second  hour.  A 
Russian  sermon  has  one  merit,  that  almost  atones 
for  any  vulgarity  and  ignorance  that  can  be  im- 
agined in  the  preacher  —  it  is  invariably  short ;  the 
longest  does  not  exceed  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 

There  are  about  seventy  sects  of  dissenters,  or 
Raskolniks,  or  heretics,  who  are  all  tolerated,  though 
no  member  of  the  established  church  is  permitted 
to  forsake  his  religion.  When  one  of  its  members 
marries  a  person  of  another  creed,  the  children 
must  all  be  reared  in  the  established  faith. 

One  sect  of  Russian  dissenters  renounces  labor,  in 
order  to  be  in  readiness  to  receive  the  Holy  Ghost 
when  he  comes.  In  another,  every  man  baptizes 
himself,  believing  that  there  is  nobody  in  the  world 
holy  enough  to  perform  the  rite.  Some  believe 
that  Antichrist  has  come,  and  put  an  end  to  all 
righteousness  in  the  church  ;  others  deem  it  merito- 
rious to   starve   themselves  to  death.     The   most 

*  Kohl. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  201 

numerous  of  the  Raskolnicks  are  the  Old  and  the 
Anti-Ceremonialists,  these  wishing  to  incorporate 
the  rites  of  Judaism  with  Christianity,  and  those  to 
strip  Christianity  of  all  ceremonial. 

The  Anti-Ceremonials  profess  to  be  sprung  from 
the  loins  of  Shadrach,  Meshech,  and  Abednego. 
They  will  have  no  icons,  ceremonies,  churches,  or 
holy-days ;  all  times  and  places  being  to  them 
equally  holy.  They  meet  and  sup  in  each  other's 
houses,  like  Christ  and  his  disciples,  praying,  hymn- 
ing, and  expounding,  women  as  well  as  men.  They 
preach,  pray,  or  sing,  standing,  sitting,  or  lying 
down,  just  as  the  fancy  strikes  them. 

Thus  far  these  sectaries  mainly  agree  with  the 
disciples  of  Silas  Lamson  and  Abby  Folsom,  in 
this  country  ;  but  in  other  respects  there  is  a  differ- 
ence. Their  property  is  in  common,  and  the  only 
punishment  they  inflict  is  expulsion  from  their 
society.  If  a  husband  wishes  to  leave  his  wife,  or 
a  wife  her  husband,  they  give  them  a  share  of  the 
common  property,  and  bid  them  go  in  peace.  They 
hold  the  story  of  the  Christian  atonement  to  be  mere- 
ly symbolical,  and  as  having  no  meaning  but  in  a 
spiritual  sense.  Christ,  they  maintain,  must  be 
born,  grow  up,  teach,  suffer,  and  die,  in  us.  Bap- 
tism is  the  same  thing  as  regeneration,  and  takes 
place  inwardly.  When  Christ,  which  is  the  word 
of  God,  sinks  into  the  heart,  the  communion  is  re- 
ceived ;  as  for  the  bread  and  wine,  they  hold  it 
absurd  to  pretend  that  it  does  more  than  nourish  the 
body.  Fasting  from  food  is  folly  ;  abstinence  from 
sin  is  the  true  Lent  of  the  righteous.  Marriage  is 
not  a  sacrament,  but  a  mere  verbal  contract.  If  a 
woman  is  seduced,  the  seducer  must  either  marry 
her,  or  quit  the  society.  Death  is  merely  a  change, 
and  not  for  the  worse.  They  believe  also  in  future 
rewards  and  punishments. 


202  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

There  is  one  thing  in  this  country,  which  we  ab- 
hor as  a  land  of  slavery,  that  is  worthy  of  the  com- 
mendation of  all  the  world,  and  of  our  especial  imita- 
tion. In  its  temples,  all  ranks,  bond  and  free,  stand 
in  the  presence  of  God  as  equals  and  as  brethren. 
There  is  no  "nigger  pew  "  in  the  north-east  corner 
of  the  gallery,  for  the  serf  to  peep  out  of  at  the 
altar ;  the  flesh  and  blood  of  the  Redeemer  is  not 
carried  to  him  apart.  "  The  princess  rears  her 
haughty  head,  or  bends  it  with  graceful  condescen- 
sion ;  and  the  poor  miijik,  clasping  his  hands  upon 
his  chest,  bows  his  body  almost  to  the  earth  before 
her  who  but  a  moment  before  was  his  equal  and 
his  sister."  Take  physic,  southern  brethren!  take 
physic,  Russian  physic,  fellow-Christians  of  Boston  ! 

There  are  many  among  us  who  will  be  satisfied, 
in  theory,  with  nothing  less  than  the  absolute  com- 
petence of  men  for  self-government  under  any  and 
all  circumstances.  There  are  others,  who  will  fling 
up  their  caps,  and  shout  "  hurrah  for  liberty,"  when- 
ever they  hear  the  triumph  of  Texan  cut-throats, 
Polish  conspirators,  or  Hibernian  peep-o'-day  boys, 
just  as  they  huzzaed  for  Jackson  twelve  years  ago  ; 
just  as  they  huzza  for  Clay  or  Polk  now  ;  just  as  the 
English  mob  huzza  for  every  royal  baby  additional 
they  have  to  maintain  ;  just  as  negroes  huzza  for  the 
4th  of  July,  without  knowing  why  or  wherefore. 
You  shall  easily  find  a  nullifier  indignant  that  the 
Russian  serf  has  not  a  vote  in  public  aflfairs,  who, 
nevertheless,  will  sell  his  own  serf  at  public  outcry, 
to  pay  a  gambling  debt ;  it  will  not  be  hard  to  find 
an  abolitionist  inveighing  justly  against  the  whole- 
sale robbery  and  oppression  committed  by  Texas 
and  the  British  in  China,  who  denounces  the  em- 
peror of  Russia  as  a  slave-holder,  while  at  the  same 
time  he  deplores  the  hard  fate  of  the  Polish  martyrs 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  203 

of  liberty  ;  you  will  readily  find  a  thousand  demo- 
cratic champions  of  the  liberty  and  equality  of 
(white)  mankind,  here  or  in  Russia,  who  are  not  in 
the  least  aware  that  three  of  themselves  weigh  even, 
in  the  political  scale,  with  five  black  beasts  of 
draught  and  burden,  in  the  Southern  States.  How 
shall  we  convince  any  of  these  creatures  of  impulse 
that  the  government  of  Russia  is  not  to  blame  for 
not  forcing  freedom  on  millions  who  never  knew 
the  meaning  of  the  word,  who  never  dreamed  of 
an  effort  to  attain  the  thing?  How  shall  we  make 
them  sensible  that  the  Emperor  Nicholas  knows 
almost  as  much  as  they  do,  that  he  deplores  the 
existing  evils  of  his  nation  as  much  as  the  most  en- 
thusiastic advocate  for  liberty  can,  and  that  he  has 
done,  and  is  doing,  all  that  even  an  emperor  of 
Russia  can,  to  emancipate  his  people,  and  fit  them 
for  a  share  in  his  government  ? 

We  have  no  justification  to  offer  for  the  man  who 
holds  property  in  his  brother  man,  against  the  lat- 
ter's  will,  for  a  single  moment,  or  who  takes  the 
fruits  of  his  sweat  without  rendering  him  a  fair 
equivalent.  But  does  the  reader  remember  a  sin- 
gle instance  in  history,  where  a  nation  of  slaves 
have  simultaneously  thrown  off  their  chains,  who, 
before  they  wrought  themselves  into  a  republic, 
did  not  go  through  the  school  and  ordeal  of  arbi- 
trary rule  ? 

Rome  reached  despotism  under  the  Caesars ;  but 
had  not  virtue  enough  at  any  time  to  become  free. 

Did  the  mass  of  Englishmen  attain  a  representa- 
tive form  of  government  without  the  training  of 
centuries,  or  without  submitting  to  the  despotism 
of  Cromwell  ?  The  reign  of  Cromwell  was  the 
zenith  of  England's  glory. 

What  was  the  consequence  when  the  long-suffer- 


204  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

ing  people  of  France  broke  their  yoke  at  a  blow,  and 
waded  through  seas  of  blood  to  —  what  ?  Free- 
dom ?  —  no.  No  !  the  splendid  despotism  of  Napo- 
leon. That  despotism,  however,  prepared  them  for 
such  freedom  as  they  now  enjoy. 

What  might  have  been  our  fate,  when  we  gave 
Andrew  Jackson  the  purse  and  the  sword,  and  set 
him  above  the  law  and  the  constitution,  if  he  had 
not  happened  to  be  a  good  man  ? 

What  have  been  the  consequences  of  our  admit- 
ting to  the  elective  franchise  foreigners  quite  as 
unfit  to  enjoy  it  as  any  serf  in  Russia?  ay,  less 
fit ;  for  the  Russian  serf  is,  excepting  on  holidays, 
sober,  and  never  turbulent  or  quarrelsome.  Let 
the  history  of  the  last  twelve  years  answer  ;  and  if 
the  advent  of  a  handful  of  barbarous  bog-trotters 
has  produced  such  evils  among  a  far  greater  num- 
ber of  civilized  men,  trained  to  self-government  for 
two  centuries,  what  would  be  the  consequence,  we 
do  not  say  of  emancipating,  but  of  putting  the 
reins  of  government  into  the  hands  of  upwards  of 
forty  millions  of  equally  ignorant  serfs? 

We  think  that,  considering  the  condition  of  all 
classes  of  the  Russian  nation,  the  present  form  of 
government  is  better  adapted  to  its  wants  than 
any  other  that  human  wisdom  could  substitute  in 
its  stead.  The  unlimited  power  of  the  sovereign,  in 
its  unity,  is,  as  it  has  been  directed  for  more  than  a 
century,  the  best  guaranty  for  its  civilization,  and 
for  the  greater  improvement  and  greater  good  of  the 
greater  number.  Had  the  nobles  any  share  in  the 
government,  or  any  political  power,  God  knows 
where  tyranny  and  oppression  would  stop  ;  perhaps 
at  the  limits  they  had  reached  before  the  reign  of 
Ivan  the  Great ;  perhaps  where  they  now  halt  in 
the    territory   beyond    Mason   and    Dixon's   line. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  205 

What  Poland  was,  Russia  would  be.  As  it  is,  it 
is  the  emperor's  interest  to  exalt  the  people,  and 
the  people's  interest  to  sustain  the  emperor.  He  is 
the  palladium  of  their  rights  ;  they,  of  his  authority. 
No  cloud  intercepts  the  Russian  peasant's  view  of 
the  sun.  Civilization  is  rapidly  extending  under 
the  emperor's  fostering  encouragement ;  slaves  are 
fast  decreasing  in  number  ;  and  freemen  are  taking 
their  places.  The  emperor  has  nothing  to  fear 
from  his  slaves,  and  but  one  thing  to  fear  from  the 
nobles — assassination  —  the  universal  weapon  of 
oligarchy. 

A  representative  form  of  government,  constituted 
as  Russian  society  now  is,  would  be  but  creating 
another  aristocracy ;  putting  power  into  the  hands 
of  a  comparatively  small  class ;  and  would  fit  Rus- 
sia as  ill  as  absolute  monarchy  would  fit  the  United 
States. 

From  the  chilly  and  desert  character  of  half  of 
its  extent,  and  from  associating  its  very  name  with 
exile  and  suffering,  we  are  apt  to  regard  Siberia  in 
the  light  that  we  do  the  sands  of  Sahara,  or  the 
snows  of  Greenland,  —  as  a  land  almost  uninhabita- 
ble, and  doomed  to  everlasting  desolation.  Neverthe- 
less, though  this  is  true  of  a  part  of  its  surface,  it  is 
by  no  means  so  of  the  whole.  Its  southern  districts 
are  of  vast  extent,  are  watered  by  large  navigable 
rivers,  and  equal  great  part  of  Europe  and  North 
America  in  agricultural  advantages.  The  immense 
plains  that  stretch  eastward  along  the  banks  of  the 
Amour  are  capable  of  subsisting  all  the  people  of 
Christendom  in  comfort  and  abundance.  There  are 
traces  of  a  much  more  dense  population,  than  is  now 
to  be  found  in  them,  having  once  inhabited  there  ; 
but  the  waste  steppes  that  separate  them  from  other 
regions,  and  the  fact  that  most  of  their  rivers  flow 
18 


206  VINDICATIOX    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

into  the  Frozen  Ocean,  has  hitherto  prevented  any 
considerable  population  from  occupying  them.  Let 
the  reader  look  at  the  map,  and  he  will  see  that  the 
navigation  of  the  River  Amour  by  steam  is  destined 
to  effect  a  mighty  change  in  this  country.  It  is 
true  that  the  mouth  of  the  Amour  belongs  to  the 
Celestial  Empire;  but  what  of  that?  After  having 
seen  dueen  Victoria  cram  the  celestials  with  opium 
without  remonstrance,  he  must  be  very  squeamish, 
indeed,  who  can  complain  of  an  emperor  of  Russia 
for  obtaining  possession  of  an  advantage  indispensa- 
ble to  so  great  a  part  of  his  dominions  —  peaceably 
if  he  can,  forcibly  if  he  must. 

"  I  found  the  wretches  about  to  commence  their 
march,"  says  Leitch  Ritchie,  "  in  a  temporary  depot. 
A  long  chain  secured  both  legs  at  the  ankles.  A 
great  many  were  Jews,  most  of  them  mujiks,  (pea- 
sants, who  have  their  lords'  permission  to  reside  in 
towns.)  Some  carts  were  near,  filled  with  their 
wives  and  children,  and  some  of  their  male  relations 
stood  beside  them  unmanacled,  who  had  petitioned 
to  be  permitted  to  share  their  exile." 

Very  gloomy,  indeed  ;  and,  if  the  reader  will  take 
the  trouble  to  call  at  the  jail  in  Leverett  Street,  he 
may  often  see  men  there  in  chains,  waiting  for  the 
carriage  that  is  to  convey  them  to  the  state  prison. 

We  do  not  suppose  a  field  negro  in  Georgia  or 
South  Carolina  would  much  care  whether  he  felt 
the  taskmaster's  whip  in  one  country  or  another. 
So  it  is  with  the  mnjik :  he  is  born  to  labor,  and 
must  continue  in  servitude,  whether  he  goes  to  Sibe- 
ria or  stays  in  Europe.  Accordingly,  the  mere  fact 
of  transportation  is  not  regarded  by  them  as  a  severe 
punishment,  especially  as  their  families  are  allowed 
to  accompany  them,  if  they  will  —  a  mercy  that  is 
not  granted  to  our  own  serfs,  who  are  only  criminal 
in  a  dark  skin. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  207 

Condemnation  to  the  mines  is  what  the  Russian 
dreads,  and  with  reason,  as  it  is  the  substitution  for 
capital  punishment,  and  is,  perhaps,  more  severe ; 
for  it  is  better  to  die  in  a  few  minutes,  than  to  be 
several  years  about  it.  It  is  precisely  the  operation 
of  our  own  principle  of  false  humanity  that  snatches 
a  man  from  the  gallows  to  imprison  him  for  hfe  at 
hard  labor.  In  our  opinion,  death  would  be  prefer- 
able. 

We  hear  terrible  tales  of  the  knout,  and  of  the 
mines  of  Siberia,  from  the  Polish  exiles,  and,  indeed, 
from  a  great  many  other  sources,  just  as  we  hear  of 
the  wolves  in  the  western  prairies,  which,  by  the  way, 
are  never  known  to  harm  the  human  race.  Now, 
we  are  free  to  admit  that  being  flogged  nearly  or 
quite  to  death  is  a  very  uncomfortable  thing, 
whether  it  happen  in  Russia  and  Poland,  or  in  the 
British  and  American  army  and  navy  ;  and  we  believe 
it  happens  as  often  to  British  and  American  soldiers 
and  sailors  as  it  does  to  Russian  criminals.  But  200 
strokes  of  the  knout  are  given  to  a  Russian  mur- 
derer :  we  have  known  four  times  that  number  inflicted 
in  the  American  army,  for  desertion.  We  admit,  too, 
that  labor  on  the  tread-mill,  or  in  the  Siberian  mines, 
is  alike  unfavorable  to  human  health  and  longevity. 
Still,  we  think — nay,  we  are  sure  —  that  all  these 
horrors  have  been  grossly  exaggerated.  Call  the 
punishment  of  the  knout,  what  it  simply  is,  a  whip- 
ping, and  most  of  its  terrors  vanish. 

The  knout  is,  indeed,  a  barbarous  and  revolting 
punishment  j  but  it  is  only  inflicted  in  cases  of  enor- 
mous guilt,  such  as  parricide,  robbery  accompanied 
with  murder,  &c.  Even  then,  it  gives  the  criminal 
about  the  same  chance  for  his  life  that  a  British  sea- 
man has  who  is  flogged  through  the  fleet.  The 
knout  is  never  inflicted  without  a  formal  trial. 


208  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

The  hatoags  is  a  punishment  inflicted  with  more 
or  less  severity  for  minor  misdemeanors,  and  is  pre- 
cisely the  same  thing  as  the  Turkish  or  Chinese 
bastinado.  Almost  every  traveller  has  confounded 
this  infliction  with  the  knout,  and  hence  our  horrible 
idea  of  Russian  cruelty. 

Here,  now,  is  one  of  the  raw-head-and-bloody- 
bone  stories  so  easily  fabricated,  and  so  easily  swal- 
lowed by  the  gullible,  sympathetic  public.  It  was 
copied  from  the  ''Gazette  de  Cologne"  into  almost 
all  the  American  and  English  papers  a  few  weeks 
ago,  under  the  caption  of  ''  Russian  cruelty." 

''  Five  Russian  deserters  —  who  were  apprehended 
close  to,  if  not  upon,  the  Russian  territory  —  received 
fifteen  hundred  strokes  of  the  knout ;  it  is  very 
seldom  the  victim  survives  the  thousandth  blow. 
Notwithstanding  the  death  of  the  five  in  question, 
the  executioner  proceeded  to  inflict  the  very  last 
lash  prescribed  by  the  sentence.  With  worse  than 
Chinese  refinement  in  barbarity,  the  parents  and 
families  of  the  condemned  were  forced  to  witness 
the  punishment  from  beginning  to  end." 

We  really  wish  that  those  journalists  who  cater 
to  the  depraved  appetite  of  the  public  for  the  horri- 
ble and  disgusting,  would  fabricate  lies,  as  masons 
mix  mortar,  with  sufficient  regard  to  consistency 
to  make  the  parts  stick  together.  We  have  no  terms 
for  the  paragraphist  who  concocted  this  farrago  of 
falsehood,  foul  taste,  and  absurdity  ;  but  to  those 
who  have  ignorantly  copied  or  believed  him,  there 
are  a  few  words  to  be  said. 

A  very  moderate  study  of  Russian  law  will  teach 
them  that  no  man,  soldier  or  citizen,  is  punished 
with  death  in  time  of  peace  for  aught  but  treason, 
or  receives  more  than  two  hundred  strokes  of  the 
knout  for  any  crime,  even  murder.     Russian  soldiers 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  209 

seldom  desert,  inasmuch  as,  however  unwilling  they 
may  at  first  be  to  serve,  they  soon  find  that  it  is  in 
every  way  better  to  be  a  soldier  than  a  serf:  when 
they  do,  they  are  disgraced  by  being  anew  enslaved. 
The  colonel  of  a  Russian  regiment  may  order  one  of 
the  file  of  his  regiment,  for  very  grave  offences,  twenty 
strokes  of  the  knout,  and  no  more.  In  civil  life, 
murder  is  punished  with  two  hundred  lashes  only, 
which,  indeed,  sometimes  kill,  but  not  often.  Is  it 
at  all  likely  that  a  Russian  court-martial  would  pro- 
nounce a  harsher  sentence  than  that  of  murder  for 
desertion  in  time  of  peace,  and  which  would  render 
the  second  part  of  the  punishment,  disgrace,  nuga- 
tory ? 

A  Russian  criminal  receives  the  amount  of  his 
sentence  at  once,  and,  usually,  the  greater  part  of  it 
in  a  state  of  insensibihty.  In  those  schools  of 
honor  and  refinement,  the  British  prize  ring  and 
army,  a  surgeon  or  a  bottle-holder  attends  the  suf- 
ferer, not  to  spare  his  physical  suffering,  but  to  make 
sure  that  he  feels  it  all ;  to  take  him  away  from  the 
ropes,  or  the  triangles,  in  order  to  bring  him  back 
again,  and  tear  open  his  lacerations  as  soon  as  nature 
can  endure  the  agony.  And  yet  the  English  accuse 
the  Russians  of  cruelty !  Two  hundred  strokes 
of  the  knout  —  it  is  too  bad  ;  yet  we  have  seen  a 
soldier  in  the  American  army  take  as  many  with  the 
cats  on  two  several  successive  mornings. 

Any  one  who  has  seen  much  flogging  knows 
that  its  severity  depends  much  more  on  the  arm  that 
strikes  than  on  the  number  of  blows. 

In  the  above  statement,  the  probability  is,  if  there 
is  any  truth  in  the  story  at  all,  that  the  deserters 
received  150  blows  each,  and  that  it  troubled  the 
reporter's  conscience  as  little  to  add  another  cipher 
as  it  did  his  fingers.  New  beginners  always  faint 
18* 


210  VINDICATION    OT    RUSSIA    AND 

at  about  the  fiftieth  blow.  As  to  the  presence  of 
the  relatives  —  rubbish  !  —  such  silly  barbarity  would 
make  the  whole  Russian  people  as  restless  as  fleas, 
or  Yankees. 

It  is  alleged  that  the  knout,  and  banishment  to 
Siberia,  are  the  meed  of  many  political  oflfences,  not 
involving  much  moral  guilt.  True  ;  the  punish- 
ment of  treason  is  proportioned  to  its  possible  or 
probable  consequences,  every  where,  not  to  the 
degree  of  its  criminality.  Is  not  poor,  harmless 
Thomas  Dorr  in  the  state  prison  of  Rhode  Island 
at  this  moment  ? 

Granting  that  Siberia  were  worse  than  imagina- 
tion paints  it,  we  ask  if  criminals  are  to  expect  a 
paradise  at  Botany  Bay,  or  in  the  state  prison  at 
Charlestown?  In  its  very  worst  aspect,  it  is  not 
worse  than  any  other  penal  settlement ;  and  of  what 
use  is  a  penal  settlement,  how  is  it  to  deter  offenders 
from  crime,  if  it  be  made  easy  and  agreeable  to 
them  ?  The  fact  is,  that,  as  we  have  already  writ- 
ten, and  thousands  have  written  before  us,  07nne 
ignotum  pro  magnifico  est.  We  are  only  afraid  of 
ghosts  because  we  know  not  what  they  are. 

As  for  the  cruelty  of  Russian  punishments,  it 
behooves  us  to  be  silent.  In  this  free,  civilized, 
enlightened  country,  the  children  of  free,  enlight- 
ened fathers  have  hanged  and  drowned  witches 
and  (Quakers.  Nay,  it  is  little  more  than  a  century 
since  a  woman  was  burned  alive  in  this  very  city 
of  Boston.  Men's  heads  were  literally  sawed  off, 
for  political  offences,  in  Virginia,  during  Nat  Tur- 
ner's insurrection,  which  had  a  much  better  pretext 
than  the  rebellion  of  the  Poles  in  1830.  Aquila 
Barnes  was  —  not  knouted  after  conviction  in  due 
course  of  law — but  hung  without  any  trial  at  all, 
in  Arkansas,  on  suspicion  of  a  murder,  of  which  he 


THE    EMPEROR    MCIIOLAS.  211 

was  afterwards   proved   innocent.     Was  not 

Brown  sentenced  to  death,  within  the  year,  for 
aiding  the  escape  of  a  slave  ?  Is  not  Charles  Tor- 
rey,  now,  in  an  American  prison,  on  a  charge  of 
aiding  slaves  to  escape  ?  It  is  not  many  years 
since  the  enlightened  citizens  of  Missouri  roasted  a 
man  alive  by  a  slow  fire,  because  their  virtuous 
horror  of  crime  could  not  wait  for  the  formality  of 
a  trial,  or  be  satisfied  with  the  measure  of  punish- 
ment awarded  by  the  statute-book.  We  Ameri- 
cans have  no  cruelty  wherewith  to  reproach  Russia. 

John  Bull,  too,  may  think,  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  of  Glencoe,  and  the  year  1746,  and  the 
death  of  Admiral  Byng,  and  his  slaughter  of  the 
unoffending  Chinese,  and  his  sworn  tormentors, 
and  his  burnings,  and  drawings,  and  quarterings, 
and  hold  his  tongue  about  Russian  cruelty.  What 
did  he  to  the  Maroons  in  Jamaica?  What,  to  the 
scattered  clans  of  CuUoden  ?  How  did  he  treat  the 
Croppies  in  1798  ?  Perhaps,  too,  he  can  remember 
Drogheda,  Wexford,  and  Limerick.  If  he  can,  he 
may  perhaps  talk  of  the  knout,  Siberia,  and  the 
Poles,  without  a  blush. 

All  nations  have,  at  times,  been  cruel ;  but  cruel- 
ty is  less  a  part  of  the  Russian  character  than  of 
most  others. 

Kohl  informs  us,  that  Russians  who  have  been 
in  Siberia  describe  it  as  the  El  Dorado,  the  land 
of  promise,  of  Russia.  Nature,  they  say,  is  rich 
and  wonderful  there ;  the  human  race  strong  and 
healthy;  society  in  the  towns  more  polished  and 
intellectual  than  any-where  else  in  Russia.  Who- 
ever has  got  over  his  introduction,  —  that  is  to  say, 
the  knout  and  a  few  years'  compulsory  labor,  —  sel- 
dom wishes  to  leave  the  country  again. 

The  knout  is  a  leathern  whip,  not  more  terrible, 


212  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

in  reality,  than  the  cat  of  the  British  army  and  navy, 
or  the  long  cow-hide  of  the  negro  overseer.  With 
the  cowhide,  or  the  knout,  a  man  may  be  killed 
with  three  scientific  strokes  —  it  has  been  done 
with  one. 

A  recent  traveller,  on  his  return  from  Moscow  to 
St.  Petersburg,  called  on  M.  OnvarofF,  the  minister 
for  public  education,  and  found  him  preparing  a 
report  to  the  emperor  on  the  number  of  schools 
recently  founded  in  each  provincial  government, 
showing  that  the  eagerness  of  the  people  for  in- 
struction had  rendered  a  great  increase  necessary 
in  their  number.  "  Civilized  man,"  said  the  min- 
ister, stepping  up  to  the  visitor,  with  the  tables  in 
his  hand,  "  can  you  guess  in  which  of  our  provinces 
it  is  proved,  by  figures  and  facts,  that  the  people 
are  most  desirous  of  acquiring  education  ?  "  The 
visitor  replied  in  the  negative.  "  Then  I  will  tell 
you,"  resumed  M.  Onvaroff.  "It  is  Siberia.  In 
that  desolate  region,  the  schools  are  found  to  be 
too  few  to  receive  all  the  children  desirous  of 
attending,  and,  therefore,  we  must  establish  ad- 
ditional schools  in  Siberia."  * 

*  Polytechnic  Journal,  Feb.  1842 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  213 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  RUSSIAN  NOBILITY.  —  MERCHANTS  AND 
BURGHERS. 

The  boyarins,  or  hereditary  nobles,  of  Russia, 
are,  for  the  most  part,  proprietors  of  the  soil ;  but 
their  rank  is  not  necessarily  dependent  on  the  re- 
tention of  their  fiefs.  Any  Russian  plebeian  may 
become  noble  by  his  public  services :  the  son  of  a 
simple  citizen  may  successively  be  clerk,  assessor, 
court  counsellor,  college  counsellor,  counsellor  of 
state,  privy-counsellor,  and  minister ;  and  every 
civil  grade,  above  that  of  an  assessor,  involves  the 
rank  of  noble.  A  counsellor  of  state  is  called, 
moreover,  excellency,  and  ge^ieral ;  for  every  civil 
grade  is  assimilated  with  a  military  title.  ^ 

In  both  the  army  and  the  civil  service,  there  ar^ 
fourteen  grades  for  the  soldier,  or  civil  functionary, 
to  pass,  before  he  becomes  a  noble,  by  winning  his 
epaulet  or  his  patent.  Nay,  unless  he  misbehaves, 
he  must  mount,  for  he  is  promoted  every  three 
years,  at  furthest.  Not  that  a  soldier  must  get  into 
the  nobility  and  his  grave  together,  either ;  there 
is  much  quicker  advancement  for  those  who  de- 
serve it.  Count  CheremetefF,  now,  or  lately,  an 
imperial  counsellor,  began  life  a  peasant  serf;  was 
next  a  private  soldier  ;  and  nobly  raised  himself  from 
the  ranks  by  his  personal  merit.  His  opinions  on 
military  affairs  are  now  considered  paramount  au- 
thority, and  he  is  the  author  of  several  valuable 
elementary  works,  intended  for  the  people  and  the 
soldiery. 


214  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

Notwithstanding  the  way  to  promotion  is  thus 
thrown  open  to  all,  there  is  a  wide  difference  be- 
tween the  Russian  plebeian  and  noble.  Neither  a 
nobleman  nor  an  officer  is  liable  to  corporal  pun- 
ishments by  the  civil  or  military  law ;  they  are 
exempted  from  the  knout  and  bastinado,  which  are 
reserved  for  the  peasant  and  private  soldier.  Even 
in  cases  of  treason,  the  noble  suffers  nothing  more 
degrading  than  imprisonment,  exile,  or  death ;  and 
capital  punishment  has  become  extremely  rare. 

Though  the  Russian  nobility  have  no  share  in 
the  government,  they  still  constitute  an  immense 
power  in  the  state.  The  land  and  money  being 
exclusively  in  their  hands,  agriculture,  manufac- 
tures, and  commerce,  can  be  little  advanced  but 
through  their  agency.  They  are  soon  acquainted 
with  every  improvement  introduced  into  Europe, 
and  quick  to  take  advantage  of  whatever  accords 
with  their  own  interests.  Some  of  the  wealthy 
ones  have  established  manufactories  of  beet-sugar, 
distilleries,  glass,  &c.,  on  their  estates,  at  vast  ex- 
pense, which  have  effected  very  desirable  results. 
There  is  a  great  extent  of  information  now  diffused 
among  the  nobility,  in  striking  contrast  with  the 
ignorance  of  the  mass.  Commerce,  manufactures, 
statistics,  science,  literature,  and  the  arts,  are  as 
much  and  as  intelligently  discussed  at  St.  Peters- 
burg, as  in  Paris  or  London. 

The  nobility  were  not  enfranchised  in  Russia 
till  the  reign  of  Peter  III.  They  were  then 
licensed  to  go  armed  or  not,  as  they  pleased, 
and  to  travel  abroad.  They  were,  however, 
obliged,  by  etiquette,  to  appear  at  court,  and 
ask  leave,  which  Catherine,  his  successor,  might 
refuse,  if  she  chose ;  and  so  it  continues  to  this 
day.     In   1834,   eighty  individuals,   or   heads   of 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  215 

families,  petitioned  for  leave  to  travel,  and  about 
half  of  them  were  refused.* 

Ritchie  thinks  that,  if  the  restriction  was  taken 
off,  there  would  be  fewer  applications  for  leave  of 
absence ;  inasmuch  as  few  of  the  Russian  nobles 
can  afford  to  travel,  though  they  may  live  very 
comfortably  at  home.  "No  man,"  he  adds,  "now 
thinks  of  wearing  a  sword,  except  when  on  military 
duty  ;  but  if  a  ukase  were  issued,  prohibiting  men 
from  doing  so  without  having  asked  and  obtained 
permission,  petitions  would  shower  in  from  half 
the  nobles  in  the  empire." 

A  Russian  nobleman  is  only  seen  in  his  true 
character  in  Russia:  abroad,  he  adopts  the  tastes 
and  habits  of  those  with  whom  he  comes  in  con- 
tact. The  consequence  is,  that  he  is  popular  wher- 
ever he  goes.  This  statement,  of  course,  presumes 
a  vast  improvement  since  the  time  of  Catherine. 
The  representatives  of  the  states  assembled  by  her 
in  1796,  though,  doubtless,  the  first  men  of  all  parts 
of  the  empire,  immediately  sold  the  commemorative 
medals  struck  and  given  to  them  by  the  empress, 
on  the  occasion,  to  the  goldsmiths.f 

Catherine's  rules  will  serve  to  show  the  manners 
of  the  court  nobility  assembled  in  the  palace  of 
Czarskoselo,  at  that  period,  for  the  very  purpose 
of  being  polished.  The  lady  who  there  rose,  or 
seated  herself,  on  the  empress's  entrance  or  de- 
parture from  a  room,  was  fined  a  silver  ruble. 

" RULES 
**  By  whi(Ji  all  who  enter  these  doors  must  conduct  themselves. 

"1.  To  leave  every  kind  of  rank  at  the  door; 
likewise  hats,  and  swords,  above  all. 

*  Ritchie.  t  Tooke. 


216  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

"  2.  Disputes  about  prerogative,  pride,  and  such 
like,  should  any  exist,  to  be  left  at  the  door. 

''  3.  To  be  lively  ;  but  not  to  spoil,  or  to  break, 
or  to  bite  any  thing. 

"  4.  To  sit,  to  stand,  to  walk  about,  as  each 
thinks  proper,  without  regard  to  others. 

"  5.  To  speak  with  moderation,  and  not  too 
loud  ;  that  the  ears  and  heads  of  the  rest  may  not 
ache. 

*'  6.    To  dispute  without  warmth  or  passion. 

"  7.  Not  to  sigh,  or  to  groan,  and  so  entail  te- 
dium and  heaviness  on  the  rest. 

"  8.  Any  innocent  game  that  one  may  project 
not  to  be  found  fault  with  by  the  others. 

'^  9.  To  eat  of  the  sweet  and  the  savory  ;  but  to 
drink  with  moderation  ;  that  each  may  always  find 
his  feet,  on  going  out  of  the  door. 

''10.  All  wrangling  to  end  in  the  room;  and 
what  goes  in  at  one  ear  should  go  out  at  the  other, 
before  the  party  goes  out  of  the  door. 

"  Should  any  one  offend  against  the  aforesaid, 
on  testimony  of  two  witnesses,  for  every  fault,  the 
offender  must  drink  a  glass  of  cold  water,  not  ex- 
cepting the  ladies,  and  read  aloud  a  page  of  the 
Telemachid. 

"  And  whoever  offends  against  three  clauses  in 
one  evening  shall  learn  six  lines  of  the  Telemachid 
by  heart. 

"  And  if  any  one  offend  against  the  ten,  he  must 
be  no  more  admitted."* 

Such  has  been  the  improvement  since  Catherine's 
time,  that  Russian  travellers,  now,  are  as  satirical 
upon  foreign  courts  as  foreign  travellers  once  were 
upon  their  own.f 

•  Tooke.  t  Khol. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  217 

Among  the  Russian  nobility  are  now  mixed  a 
great  number  of  German  birth  or  extraction ;  for 
to  be  a  foreigner  is,  in  itself,  a  sort  of  title  in 
Russia.  It  appears,  from  the  St.  Petersburg  Court 
Calendar  for  1837,  that  600  of  the  highest  posts 
in  the  empire,  from  ministers  and  field-marshals 
downward,  were  filled  with  persons  of  German 
names ;  or  with  Germans,  to  Russians,  in  the  ratio 
of  one  to  four  and  a  half  Reckoning  the  whole 
population  of  the  empire  at  sixty-two  millions,  it 
follows  that  its  German  population  (of  400,000) 
fill  as  many  of  the  highest  offices  as  14,000,000 
of  the  non-German  population.  Ten  Germans  had 
seats  in  the  senate  that  year,  and  40  out  of  300 
ladies  and  maids  of  honor  had  German  names.* 

One  day  that  the  Emperor  Nicholas  was  pre- 
siding in  his  council  of  ministers,  several  questions 
were  discussed  relative  to  the  best  mode  of  pro- 
moting national  improvement.  The  discussion 
necessarily  called  forth  many  ideas  and  opinions 
current  in  other  parts  of  Europe.  After  all  had 
spoken,  the  czar  thus  delivered  himself:  '-'I  can- 
not refrain  from  avowing  my  astonishment  at  what 
I  have  heard  in  the  course  of  this  discussion.  The 
council  being  composed  of  men  of  various  ages,  I 
was  led  to  expect  that  the  younger  ministers  would 
urge  me  forward  to  reform,  while  I  should  hear 
only  retrograde  sentiments  from  those  advanced  in 
life ;  but  the  contrary  is  the  fact.  My  old  minis- 
ters are  the  advocates  of  improvement,  and  liberal 
ideas  are  combated  by  the  younger  ones.  This 
circumstance  appears  to  me  very  singular,  and 
demands  my  earnest  attention.  I  must  reflect 
upon  it." 

This  led  the  emperor  to  other  reflections.     He 


19 


Khol. 


218  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

saw  around  him  two  classes  of  men  —  the  first,  the 
elegant  remains  of  the  old  Russian  court,  who  had 
flourished  under  Catherine^  Paul,  and  Alexander. 
They  knew  the  world  well,  and  had  mingled  much 
with  the  French  society  of  the  last  century.  They 
considered  national  improvement  the  gradual  and 
inevitable  application  of  the  principles  of  the 
school  of  Voltaire  to  social  laws  and  customs. 
They  did  not  wish  to  take  from  the  people  their 
ignorance,  or  their  religion,  which,  they  alleged, 
was  a  useful  instrument  of  government.  For  the 
upper  classes  they  recommended  the  adoption  of 
the  old  French  regime  of  skeptical  philosophy  and 
elegant  civilization. 

The  other,  younger,  class  of  politicians  saw  their 
great  country  copying,  and  imitating,  and  adopting, 
the  arts,  the  literature,  and  even  the  language,  of 
France,  with  regret.  "As  long,"  said  they,  "as 
the  entire  merit  of  a  nation  consists  in  imitating 
another,  what  is  to  be  expected  from  it  ?  It  is  not 
imitative  improvement  that  ought  to  be  encouraged, 
but  the  genuine  national  development,  that  is  too 
often  retarded  by  foreign  imitation.  Let  us  obtain 
all  the  light  we  can  from  the  French ;  but  let  us 
not  cease  to  be  Russians.  Let  us  try  to  implant 
manners,  laws,  and  arts,  in  our  own  country;  to 
foster  national  genius ;  and  thus  we  shall  acquire 
a  more  solid  and  lasting  improvement  than  can  be 
gained  from  a  flimsy  and  superficial  civilization, 
whose  tendency  is  to  turn  men  who  were  barba- 
rians but  the  other  day  into  Parisians."  This  lan- 
guage did  not  displease  the  emperor,  and  he  acted 
upon  it.* 

He  has  not,  apparently,  succeeded  very  well  in 

*  Polytechnic  Journal,  Feb.  1843. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  219 

developing  the  germs  of  nationality.  As  our  most 
primitive  aborigines  most  delight  in  laced  coats; 
as  the  Taheitan  ladies  delight  in  arraying  them- 
selves in  sailors'  trousers ;  so  the  Russian  aris- 
tocracy persist  in  running  after  foreign  fashions. 
Very  little  that  can  be  called  Russian  has  been 
produced  by  Russian  painters  or  musicians.  Rus- 
sian literature  promises  better:  it  already  boasts 
of  the  historian  Karamsin,  the  fabulist  Krailow, 
and  the  poet  Pushlin.  A  host  more  might  be  men- 
tioned. If  Russia  has  not  yet  produced  a  Shak- 
speare  or  a  Newton,  it  should  be  remembered  that 
she  is  but  half  a  century  old. 

Among  other  things,  the  Emperor  Nicholas  re- 
gretted to  see  that  the  French  had  become  so 
much  the  court  language  of  the  empire,  that  many 
ladies  of  Moscow  had  actually  forgotten  Russian. 
One  of  the  grand  dukes  having  been  invited  to  a 
ball  given  by  the  Muscovite  nobilit}?-,  the  emperor 
specially  enjoined  him  to  dance  only  with  such  la- 
dies as  spoke  French,  and  who  would  be  pointed 
out  to  him ;  at  the  same  time  forbidding  him  to 
utter  a  syllable  of  any  language  but  Russian  during 
the  whole  entertainment.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  ladies  entertained  the  highest  possible 
sense  of  the  honor  of  dancing  with  the  prince, 
and  the  reader  may  imagine  their  disappointment 
and  mortification  at  finding  themselves  unable  to 
hold  any  communication  with  him.* 

Peter  the  Great  divided  the  whole  Russian  pop- 
ulation into  fourteen  classes,  the  eight  highest  of 
which,  alone,  were  to  confer  hereditary  nobility. 
Some  of  the  other  classes  conferred  personal  no- 
bility, for  life,  and  others  distinguished  those  eur 

*  Polytechnic  Journal. 


220  VINDICATION     OF    RUSSIA    AND 

rolled  in  them  as  well  boruj  or  gentlemen.     This 
arrangement  subsists,  with  little  alteration,  now. 

This  creation  of  a  new  order  of  nobility,  founded 
on  service  or  merit,  was,  no  doubt,  a  material  im- 
provement. It  has  lessened  the  influence  of  the. 
old  nobles,  and,  in  some  degree,  liberalized  the 
caste,  while  it  has  oifered  an  object  of  ambition 
to  all  classes.  One  writer  =^  laments  that  the  mul- 
tiplication of  titles  has  lessened  their  value.  We 
think  that  the  less  hereditary  titles  of  nobility  are 
valued,  the  better. 

We  do  not  doubt  that  this  is  the  view  the 
emperor  himself  takes  of  the  matter.  To  make 
hereditary  nobility  contemptible  by  its  common- 
ness, seems  to  have  been  the  express  object  of 
two  new  statutes  inserted  in  the  svod.  —  "  Every 
crown  peasant,  (say,  in  round  numbers,  twenty- 
two  millions,)  when  he  acquires  sufficient  wealth, 
may  purchase  the  rights  of  citizenship,  and  become 
the  free  merchant,  or  burgher,  of  a  town." 

"  Every  merchant  of  the  first  guild  who  has 
been  thrice  elected  chief  of  the  corporation  of 
his  district,  at  once  establishes  for  his  family  the 
privilege  of  hereditary  nobility." 

These  statutes  were  exceedingly  unpalatable  to 
ministers  and  counsellors;  but  they  were  obliged 
to  swallow  them.  To  wash  them  down,  however, 
the  emperor  appended  another,  viz.,  ''  The  rate  of 
interest  is  reduced  from  six  to  four  per  cent." 

The  Russians  are,  nevertheless,  fond  of  titles, 
like  all  rude  people  ;  —  that  of  prince,  in  particular. 
By  the  time  he  is  a  grandfather,  a  prince  sees  a 
flourishing  colony  of  young  princes  about  him. 
Beggars  they  may  be,  too.     The  objectioa  is  al- 

*  Schnitzler,  StatigUque  giniraU. 


THE    EMPEROR   NICHOLAS.  221 

ready  realized.  Hereditary  nobility  is  as  little 
regarded  in  Russia  as  it  ought  to  be  every  where 
else.  Even  wealth  gives  a  family  no  permanent 
consequence.  Every  man  is  valued  according  to 
his  usefulness,  and  the  best  evidence  of  this  is  the 
rank  conferred  by  the  emperor.  He  may,  and 
must,  sometimes,  make  bad  selections ;  but  the 
plan  works  wonderfully  well  as  a  whole. 

In  1836,  the  nobles  were  691,355 ;  of  whom 
538,160  were  hereditary,  and  the  rest  personal 
dignitaries.  Of  these  hereditary  drones,  the  king- 
dom of  Poland  contributed  283.420 ;  not  that  the 
half  of  them  had  estates ;  indeed,  very  many  of 
them  were  what  are  vulgarly  called  gentlemen 
with  three  outs ;  Anglice,  beggars,  or  worse.  In 
Courland,  Livonia,  and  the  Polish  provinces,  none 
but  nobles  can  inherit  landed  property ;  but,  in 
Russia  proper,  such  is  not  the  case  —  though  even 
there,  with  the  exception  of  the  crown  estates, 
they  are  almost  the  only  landed  proprietors. 

The  titles  of  prince,  count,  baron,  <fcc.,  have  su- 
perseded those  formerly  in  use,  though  they  convey 
no  additional  power  or  privileges.  There  are  more 
than  a  hundred  titular  princes  in  the  government 
of  Tala  alone.  All  the  members  of  a  noble  family 
are  noble,  and  have  the  same  title  as  its  head.  On 
the  death  of  a  noble,  his  estate  is  divided,  by  a 
fixed  scale,  among  his  children,  of  both  sexes.  One 
seventh  of  his  landed  property  goes  to  his  widow, 
forever,  one  fourteenth  to  each  of  his  daughters,  and 
the  residue  is  equally  divided  among  his  sons.* 

Nobles  are  exempted  from  all  personal  charges, 
and  from  military  service ;  but  are  required  to 
furnish  recruits  from  the  army  according  to  the 

*  Venables's  Russia 

19* 


222 


VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 


number  of  their  serfs.  Precedence  is  determined 
by  military  grade  :  an  ensign  may  take  it  of  any 
nobleman  without  military  rank. 

So  few  travellers  and  writers  on  Russia  make  any 
mention  of  the  nobles,  —  unless  in  situations  where 
they  can  be  seen  by  all  the  world,  — as,  for  example, 
in  the  streets,  in  their  travelling  carriages,  or  on  pub- 
lic occasions,  that  the  inference  is  unavoidable  that 
they  have  seldom  been  admitted,  on  terms  of  equal- 
ity, to  their  society.  Hence  we  know  little  of  their 
manners  and  character  as  a  class.  It  is  certain, 
however,  that  there  are  many  accomplished  gen- 
tlemen among  them.  It  is  more  than  probable 
that  the  accounts  given  of  them  by  such  tourists  as 
Clarke,  Lyal  (lie-all  ?)  and  the  reverend  spatterer 
Morton,  are  about  as  true  as  the  gross,  vulgar,  and 
malignant  caricatures  of  Dickens  and  Mrs.  Trol- 
lope.  As  far  as  mere  manners  go,  the  noble  is 
usually  in  advance  of  his  race  every  where. 

The  Russian  nobility  are  admitted  by  all  to  be 
universally  hospitable,  and  are  stigmatized,  we  fear 
with  some  degree  of  justice,  as  coarse  and  sensual. 
Considering  that  they  have  no  public  occupation, 
and  that,  in  most  parts  of  the  empire,  they  can  have 
little  society  but  that  of  their  slaves,  it  is  not  won- 
derful if  their  tastes  and  habits  do  still  savor  some- 
what of  barbarism  ;  but  very  much  so,  that  they 
should  have  made  what  improvement  they  have. 

The  Russian  nobles  keep  great  numbers  of  vas- 
sals in  their  houses  as  servants.  Some  houses  have 
upwards  of  five  hundred  of  these  retainers,  who 
receive  but  a  paltry  pittance  as  wages  ;  yet  it  suffices 
for  their  wants,  as  their  masters  feed  and  clothe 
them.  They  are  called  dwarnije  Ijudi,  (court-yard, 
people,)  and  are  exempted  from  agricultural  labor  and 
military  service.     They  find  their  own  bread  and 


THE    EMPEROR   NICHOLAS.  223 

kwas^  (an  acid  beverage,  in  universal  use,)  and  pick 
up  the  crumbs  from  their  lords'  table,  wear  the 
same  clothes  they  wore  on  the  natal  dunghill,  and 
sleep  on  the  kitchen  chairs,  or  beside  the  kitchen 
stove.  They  are  provided  with  boots,  and  a  caf- 
tan, while  they  are  employed  in  the  household, 
and  are  soon  sent  back  to  the  fields.  They  differ 
too  little  from  other  peasants  to  form  a  distinct 
class  of  society.* 

Several  Russian  noblemen,  of  late,  have  distin- 
guished themselves  by  their  attention  to  their  estates. 
In  some  instances,  they  have  imported  stewards 
and  laborers  from  England.  We  have  already 
spoken  of  their  enterprise  as  manufacturers.  When 
a  noble  establishes  a  manufactory  on  a  large  scale, 
and  keeps  it  in  constant  operation,  he  commonly 
finds  it  necessary  to  put  the  serfs  on  the  footing  of 
hired  laborers,  to  pay  them  what  he  thinks  fit  for 
their  work,  and  leave  them  to  provide  for  their 
own  subsistence,  which  he  would  otherwise  be 
obliged  to  do  himself. 

Coxe  and  Pinkerton,  who  are  among  the  most 
candid  and  best  writers  on  Russia,  speak  very  fa- 
vorably of  the  Russian  nobility. 

The  merchants,  burghers,  &c.,  of  whom  it  has 
been  the  settled  policy  of  the  czars,  since  the  great 
Peter,  to  form  a  free,  middle,  intermediate  class, 
between  the  nobles  and  the  serfs,  are  thus  described 
by  the  Empress  Catherine,  in  her  instructions  for  a 
new  code  of  laws  :  "  This  class,  composed  of  free- 
men, belong  neither  to  the  class  of  nobles,  nor  to 
that  of  peasants.  All  those  who,  being  neither 
gentlemen  nor  peasants,  follow  the  arts  and 
sciences,  navigation,   commerce,  or  exercise  trade, 

*  Khol. 


224      "  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

are  to  be  ranked  in  this  class.  In  it  should  be 
placed  all  those  who,  born  of  plebeian  parents,  shall 
have  been  brought  up  in  schools  or  places  of  edu- 
cation, religious  or  otherwise,  founded  by  us,  or 
our  successors.  Also  the  children  of  officers  and 
of  secretaries  to  the  chancery." 

Merchants  and  traders  belong  to  this  class, 
and  are  distributed  in  guilds,  according  to  the 
amount  of  their  capital.  They  also  enjoy  certain 
privileges,  on  paying  a  fixed  per  centage  on  their 
capital. 

Every  Russian  trader  must  be  a  burgher,  and  be 
registered  as  such,  to  enjoy  the  freedom  of  trade. 
All  whose  names  are  registered  in  the  burghers' 
book,  are  either  townsmen,  with  property  within 
the  city,  or  members  of  a  guild. 

The  guilds  are  three. 

Members  of  the  first  guild  report  themselves 
worth  from  ten  to  fifty  thousand  rubles.  They 
may  engage  in  foreign  commerce,  and  are  not  lia- 
ble to  corporal  punishment.  They  may  drive  a 
carriage,  with  two  horses. 

Members  of  the  second  guild  declare  themselves 
possessed  of  from  five  to  ten  thousand  rubles,  and 
are  restricted  to  inland  trade. 

From  a  thousand  to  five  thousand  rubles  entitle 
a  trader  to  admission  into  the  third  guild,  which 
comprises  all  stationary  petty  dealers. 

All  pay  1  3-4  per  cent,  on  the  capital  they  ac- 
knowledge, the  amount  of  which  is  left  to  the  in- 
dividual's conscience. 

The  burghers  have  many  privileges  more  than 
the  peasants;  and  they  are  distinguished  from  the 
merchants  in  being  liable  to  the  capitation  tax, 
and  to  military  and  naval  service.  The  German 
and  other  free  colonists,  established  in  difi'erent  parts 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  ^25 

of  the  empire,  and  the  free  cultivators,  belong  to 
this  intermediate  class,  which  may  contain  three 
millions  of  individuals. 

This  class,  though  so  lately  called  into  existence,  is 
rapidly  on  the  increase,  and  actively  engaged  in  in- 
dustrious enterprise.  Here  it  is  that  the  emperor  most 
feels  the  importance  of  the  nobility.  He  may  con- 
fer freedom,  and  rank,  and  privileges,  on  commerce 
and  mechanical  skill  ;  but  it  is  from  the  nobles  that 
the  wealth  must  come  to  set  them  in  motion ;  and 
it  is  fortunate  for  Russia,  that  the  boyarin  cannot 
reap  the  advantages  of  the  arts  without  conceding 
a  share  of  them  to  the  artist.  However  small  that 
share,  it  cannot  fail  to  insure  competence  and  per- 
fect freedom  to  the  working  classes,  in  the  course 
of  time. 

The  Empress  Catherine  was  wide  awake  to  the 
importance  of  such  a  class.  Finding  that  the  ille- 
gitimate children  produced  in  Russia  were  equal 
to  one  fifth  of  the  whole  number  of  births,  she 
claimed  all  natural  children,  whose  parents  were 
willing  to  surrender  them,  as  the  property  of  the 
state.  She  decreed  that  these  children,  after  being 
carefully  educated,  and  trained  to  useful  callings, 
should  become  free  citizens  j  and  thus  the  founda- 
tion of  the  class  was  laid.  In  furtherance  of  this 
plan,  grants  of  money  were  made  by  the  crown, 
with  which,  augmented  by  the  donations  of  indi- 
viduals, hospitals  and  schools  were  speedily  estab- 
lished. Thirty  thousand  children  are  constantly 
maintained,  and  taught  trades,  in  the  Foundling 
Hospital  at  Moscow,  and  the  schools  connected 
with  it. 

The  Emperor  Nicholas  has  shown  exceeding  sa- 
gacity in  carrying  out  the  policy  so  nobly  fixed  by 
his  predecessors.  He  saw,  as  clearly  as  they  did,  that 


S26  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

the  emancipation  of  his  crown  from  feudal  influ- 
ences would  never  be  complete  till  the  imperial 
authority,  using  the  popular  interest  as  a  fulcrum, 
shall  downheave  the  remaining  power  of  his  still 
important  aristocracy.  But  the  measures  requisite 
to  obtain  this  object  demand  the  concurrence  of 
the  imperial  council,  his  ministers,  the  senate,  &c.  ; 
and  as  these  bodies  are  composed  of  nobles,  they 
are  naturally  interested  in  opposing  and  retarding 
any  diminution  of  the  privileges  of  their  order. 
Nicholas,  however,  has  turned  the  enemy's  flank. 
He  is  himself  the  most  extensive  landholder  in  his 
dominions,  and  nothing  is  easier  for  him  than  to 
add  new  estates  (peopled  with  peasants,  who  thus  be- 
come his  property)  to  his  vast  possessions.  He  may, 
as  he  has  done,  establish  manufactories  on  his  own 
domains,  and  grant  freedom  to  intelligent  and  in- 
dustrious workmen,  as  he  does.  He  purchases  a 
great  many  ignorant  peasants  yearly,  and  sends 
them  to  his  own  manufactories,  Avhere  they  are 
instructed  in  various  branches  of  industry.  Every 
year  an  equal  number  of  crown  peasants,  who  have 
proved  themselves  capable  of  gaining  their  OAvn 
living,  a.re  affranchised,  and  added  ta  the  middle 
class.  The  perseverance  with  which  he  carries 
out  the  views  of  Catherine  claims  our  warmest 
admiration. 

The  encouragement  now  held  out  to  every 
branch  of  art  and  industry,  in  Russia,  has  developed 
the  wonderful  imitative  powers  of  the  Russian 
people.  Some  authors,  prematurely,  we  think,  say 
that  it  has  also  shown  the  Russian  poverty  of  in- 
vention. It  should  be  recollected  how  short  a 
time  civilized  Russia  has  existed  ;  and  that,  in  that 
short  period,  there  have  been  too  many  things  to 
imitate,  to  leave  much  time  for  invention.     The 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  227 

want  of  an  enlightened  sovereign,  willing  to  en- 
courage the  arts,  explains  the  late  civilization  of 
Russia,  while  her  present  wonderful  advancement 
attests  the  sovereign  genius  of  the  Emperor 
Nicholas. 

The  foreign  traveller  in  a  Russian  city  scarcely 
observes  the  presence  of  the  embryo  middle  class. 
The  fact  is  easily  explained.  The  peasants  of 
Russia  are  forty-four  millions,  at  least,  and  such  a 
body  must  necessarily  move  slow.  Moreover,  put- 
ting their  great  number  out  of  the  question,  they 
cannot,  with  much  fewer  advantages,  have  improved 
nearly  so  fast  as  the  wealthy,  comparatively  small 
body  of  nobles.  Now,  admitting  the  affranchise- 
ment of  a  number  of  serfs  equal  to  the  whole  class 
of  nobles,  (and  it  is  much  greater,)  they  would  still 
be  too  few  to  make  much  show,  mingled  with  the 
entire  mass.  The  distinction  between  the  highest 
and  lowest  classes  is,  therefore,  apparently  as  great 
as  ever. 

The  highest  class  of  merchants  have  entirely 
laid  aside  their  national  peculiarities,  and  are  very 
little  distinguished  from  the  nobles,  if  at  all.  The 
lower  class,  the  true  Russians,  still  rejoice  in  the 
beard  and  caftan.  They  often  ostentatiously  pur- 
chase a  nobleman's  house,  for  a  show  ;  they  occu- 
py only  the  shabbiest  part  of  it.  They  are  often 
seen,  in  a  uniform  bedizened  with  gold  lace,  stalk- 
ing statelily  in  the  streets. 

Peter  the  Great  was  a  far-sighted  politician :  he 
offered  pride  a  premium. 

Speaking  of  petty  merchants,  we  must  remark, 
that  many  of  them  are  still  serfs,  subject  to  the 
obrok,  or  capitation  tax,  paid  by  the  peasant  to  his 
lord.  The  serf-merchant  usually  buys  his  freedom 
of  his  master,  as  soon  as  he  has  accumulated  money 


s^ 


VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 


enough ;  but,  if  the  master  be  not  willing  to  sell, 
he  cannot  be  compelled. 

Ritchie  sets  the  whole  class  of  Russian  petty 
traders  down  as  liars,  cheats,  and  swindlers,  with- 
out a  solitary  exception.  Just  so  our  southern 
brethren  speak  of  us;  probably  with  about  equal 
justice.  We  cannot  contradict  Ritchie,  from  any 
personal  knowledge  of  our  own ;  but  perhaps  we 
may  be  allowed  to  remark,  that  such  wholesale 
condemnation  is  seldom  merited  by  any  large 
class  of  men. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS. 


CHAPTER   X. 


229 


SLAVERY  IN  RUSSIA.  — SLAVES —  REALLY  SUCH.— 
SERFS.  — LICENSED  SERFS.  — POLICY  OF  NICHO- 
LAS. 

"Unhappily,"  says  M'CiiUoch's  Gazetteer,  (very 
good  authority  in  most  matters,)  "  the  far  largest 
portion  of  the  people  of  Russia  are  slaves,  belong- 
ing either  to  the  crown  or  to  individuals."  Such, 
too,  is  the  light  in  which  most  writers  regard  the 
Russian  peasantry.  The  words  serf,  peasant,  and 
slave,  are  commonly  used  as  equivalent  terms,  and 
as  such  we  have  heretofore  used  them ;  but  there 
is  a  distinction,  and  a  wide  one.  The  great  mass 
of  the  Russian  people  are,  indeed,  slaves ;  but  if 
any  one  supposes  that  Russian  slavery,  in  its  most 
hideous  form,  is  comparable  to  American  slavery 
south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  he  does  Russia 
cruel  injustice. 

The  actual  number  of  slaves,  held  in  Russia  as 
personal  estate,  and  not  attached  to  the  soil,  men 
who  have  neither  souls  nor  bodies  of  their  own, 
who  are  either  attached  friends  or  assassins,  as 
they  are  treated,  is,  compared  with  the  mass,  very 
small ;  not  much  exceeding  that  of  the  nobles.* 
But  these  bondsmen  cannot  be  sold  or  bought,  ac- 
cording to  a  law  promulgated  fifty  years  ago,  or 
murdered  or  mutilated  Vv'ith  impunity. 

It  may  be  urged  that  the  law  is  often  a  dead 
letter  in  Russia,  as  it  is  in  slave-holding  America. 

*  Ritchie. 

20 


230 


VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 


Still  the  legal  admission  that  the  Russian  slave  has 
a  property  in  his  own  life  and  limbs^  and  that  he  is 
not  an  alienable  chattel,  like  an  ox  or  an  ass,  —  in 
short,  that  he  is  a  human  being,  endowed  with 
some  rights,  —  is  a  great  improvement  on  some  of 
the  American  state  codes. 

The  spectacle  was  never  seen,  in  Russia,  of  a 
man,  his  wife,  and  his  child,  sold  in  the  same  hour, 
on  the  same  auction-stand,  to  three  different  pur- 
chasers, and  hurried  away,  first  to  prison,  and  then 
to  three  different  and  widely-separated  provinces. 

No  reward  is  ever  offered  in  Russia  for  a  run- 
away slave's  head. 

No  slave  is  prohibited  by  law,  in  Russia,  from 
learning  to  read,  and  no  freeman  can  be  punished 
for  teaching  him. 

Every  Russian  slave  may  worship  God,  how, 
when,  and  in  what  church,  he  pleases. 

Slaves  are  sometimes  cruelly  flogged  in  Russia ; 
but  they  never  wear  iron  yokes  upon  their  necks, 
or  are  identified  by  loss  of  teeth,  brands,  burns,  or 
mutilations,  inflicted  as  punishments. 

The  veriest  slave  in  Russia,  once  enfranchised 
by  his  tnaster,  may  aspire  to  any  rank,  but  the 
highest,  in  the  empire. 

Almost  all  of  this  unhappy  race  are,  of  course, 
included  among  the  "court-yard  people."  We  do 
not  remember  that  any  writer  on  Russia,  excepting 
Leitch  Ritchie,  has  ever  even  mentioned  the  ex- 
istence of  such  a  class. 

How  these  wretches  became  slaves,  we  have  no 
means  of  ascertaining ;  it  is  enough  for  us  that 
slaves  they  are.  Their  proportion  to  the  other 
classes  is  much  less  than  that  of  our  slaves  is  to 
us  ;  but  the  effects  of  the  curse  are  the  same  in  Rus- 
sia that  they  were  in  the  British  West  Indies,  are 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  231 

in  the  United  States,  and  must  and  will  be  where^ 
ever  God,  in  his  anger,  suffers  slavery  to  exist.  In 
183-,  a  slave  in  Moscow  slew  his  mistress,  a  lady 
of  a  kind  and  humane  disposition.  His  motive 
could  never  be  discovered.  He  confessed  that  he 
had  smothered  her  in  her  bed,  but  would  not  con- 
fess whether  his  object  was  revenge  or  robbery. 
Yet  this  hardened  wretch,  after  undergoing  the 
knout  and  being  chained  for  his  tramp  to  Siberia, 
was  anxious  to  establish  the  innocence  of  two  wo- 
men, his  fellow-servants  and  sufferers,  who  had  been 
condemned  and  knouted  as  accomplices,  though 
he  declared  that  they  had  not  even  known  his 
intentions. 

Not  a  particle  of  evidence  was  adduced  against 
these  women.  They  were  condemned,  on  the 
liegal  presumption,  that,  having  been  in  the  house 
at  the  time  of  the  murder,  they  must  have  had 
knowledge  of  the  deed.  Had  the  like  crime  been 
committed,  with  like  circumstances,  in  the  state  of 
Missouri,  they  would  probably  have  been  hanged, 
or,  what  is  more  likely,  roasted  alive,  on  the  illegal 
presumption  of  wearing  black  skins.  The  Russian 
atrocity  seems  to  have  been  borrowed  from  Roman 
jurisprudence. 

The  truth  is,  the  system  of  slavery,  exist  where 
it  may,  is  a  crime  so  monstrous,  that  it  can  only  be 
sustained  by  a  thousand  other  crimes,  let  their  con- 
sequences be  never  so  destructive  to  humanity.  It 
is  an  institution  that  cannot  subsist  without  pro- 
voking assassinations,  to  be  punished  by  legal  mur- 
ders, or,  as  in  the  above  case,  by  a  legal  scourging, 
branding,  and  banishment,  of  the  helpless  innocent. 
But  the  slaves  of  Russia  are  worth  a  thousand 
rubles  a-piece,  as  property ;  and,  moreover,  their 
emancipation  by  the  absolute  will  of  the  emperor 


232  VINDICATION     OF    RUSSIA    AND 

would  involve  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs  also : 
in  a  word,  it  would  be  the  sudden  and  violent  rup- 
ture of  all  the  ties  that  bind  Russian  society  together. 
Is  this  to  be  expected?  —  is  it  to  be  desired?  —  can 
it  be — ought  it  to  be  done?  These  are  questions 
that  have  cost  England  long  years  to  answer; 
questions  that  we  never  shall  answer ;  questions 
that,  we  think,  never  will  be  answered  for  us,  but 
in  one  of  two  ways,  viz.  by  a  universal  amalga- 
mation of  colors  in  the  south,  or  by  blood  and 
burning.  The  former  is  not  a  very  agreeable  pros- 
pect to  our  southern  brethren  and  sisters,  the  latter 
especially  ;  but  no  such  consequences  can  result  in 
Russia.  No  Russian  lady  need  fear  transmitting 
her  name  to  a  mulatto  posterity,  should  slavery 
continue  in  Russia  to  the  end  of  time. 

We  shall  presently  show  that,  whether  universal 
emancipation  in  Russia  be  expedient  and  desirable, 
or  not,  it  will  and  must  take  place  ;  and  has,  for  half 
a  century,  been  in  a  train  of  rapid  accomplishment. 
Nay,  it  will  appear  that,  if  the  life  of  Nicholas  1. 
be  prolonged  to  the  threescore  years  and  ten  al- 
lotted to  man,  and  if  his  successor  shall  "  follow 
in  the  fobtsteps  of  his  illustrious  predecessor,"  the 
extinction  of  slavery  will  assuredly  have  been  con- 
summated, in  Russia,  in  less  time  than  it  has  cost 
England.  It  is  lucky  that  things  are  not  in  Russia 
as  they  are  in  America;  that  the  emperor  is  not 
bound  by  any  state  precedents ;  that  he  can  afford 
to  look  down  with  disdain  upon  our  example. 

The  serfs,  confounded  with  the  slaves  of  Russia 
by  almost  all  writers,  belong  to  the  soil,  and  are  the 
great  bulk  of  the  nation.  They  belong  to  the 
crown,  and  to  the  hereditary  proprietors,  —  twenty- 
two  millions  to  the  former,  and  twenty-three  to 
the  latter.     Count  Cheremeieff,  once  a  serf  himself 


THE  EMPEROR  NICHOLAS.  233 

is  the  owner  of  a  hundred  and  ten  thousand  of  them, 
and  there  are  some  other  nobles  who  have  almost 
as  many.  The  time  and  liberty  of  those  belonging 
to  private  individuals  is  absolutely  at  the  disposal 
of  their  masters.  They  are  born  on  the  soil,  and 
with  it  their  legal  rights  begin  and  end.  Any 
privilege  they  may  enjoy,  away  from  the  natal 
spot  —  the  very  license  to  leave  it  —  is  only  by  favor 
of  their  masters;  their  earnings,  too,  are  theirs;  at 
least,  there  is  no  law  to  protect  them  in  the  usufruct 
thereof,  any  more  than  there  is  to  protect  an  Amer- 
ican slave.  Of  course,  it  may  be  assumed  of  the 
serfs,  as  of  the  slaves,  where  the  practice  of  the 
system  corresponds  with  the  theory,  as  a  general 
rule,  that  their  reasoning  powers  are  chiefly  applied 
to  escape  as  much  as  possible  of  the  labor  from 
which  they  are  to  derive  no  benefit,  and  in  which 
they  have  no  personal  interest. 

But  the  theory  and  the  practice  do  not  correspond. 
It  is,  generally,  the  interest  of  the  serf-holder  to 
accept  of  the  serf  a  stated  annual  sum  instead  of  the 
personal  services  he  might  otherwise  exact.  This 
capitation  tax  is  called  their  ohrok  ;  and,  after  paying 
it,  the  serf  is  free  from  other  demands  for  the  time. 
This  obrok,  tax,  tribute,  or  rent,  may  be  stated  at 
from  thirty-five  to  forty-five  rubles  a  male  head,  on 
the  average.  Others,  instead  of  paying  an  obrok, 
perform  task-work  ;  others  yield  a  tithe  of  the  prod- 
uce they  raise ;  and  all  of  these  impositions  are 
demanded  from  some  of  them.  Runaway  serfs  are 
punished  with  imprisonment  and  hard  labor;  but 
the  law  protects  their  lives. 

If  we  presuppose  that  the  serfs  have  no  ambition, 

and  consider  their  obrok  what,  in  fact,  it  usually  is, 

a  very  trifling  rent  for  the  lands  they  occupy,  — 

they  are,  apparently,    as  well  off  as  the  English 

20* 


234  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

peasantry.  They  can  be  transferred  from  one  mas- 
ter to  another  with  the  land ;  but  they  cannot 
be  removed  from  it  without  their  own  consent  ; 
therefore,  they  can  no  more  be  said  to  be  sold  than 
an  English,  or  American  tenant,  when  the  title- 
deeds  of  his  farm  change  owners.  Supposing  the 
serf's  obrok  to  be  a  purely  arbitrary  exaction,  for 
which  no  equivalent  is  rendered,  — as  it  is  when  he 
buys  permission  to  leave  the  estate  and  try  his  for- 
tune elsewhere,  —  the  injustice  is  not  greater  than  is 
endured  by  English  dissenters  and  Irish  peasantry, 
who  patiently  pay,  the  slaves  !  an  obrok,  without  an 
equivalent,  to  the  established  church.  Moreover, 
the  Russian  land-holder  does  not  add  insult  to  ex- 
tortion ;  he  does  not  rob  his  serf  in  the  name  of  his 
maker.  But  the  worst  of  it,  and  what  in  a  great 
measure  paralyzes  the  serfs  energies,  is,  that  the 
obrok  is  not  a  fixed  sum,  like  rent,  but  depends  on 
the  liberality,  avarice,  or  caprice,  of  the  master,  who 
proportions  it  to  his  bondman's  ability  to  pay.  Some 
of  the  serfs  licensed  to  dwell  away  from  their  estates, 
in  towns,  are  amerced  upwards  of  a  thousand  rubles. 
This  is  something  akin,  in  principle,  to  the  Abys- 
sinian practice  of  eating  flesh  with  the  blood. 

Moreover,  a  Russian  proprietor  may  inflict  cor- 
poral punishment  on  his  slave.  The  serf  cannot 
pay  for  his  liberty  as  a  right  :  his  lord  may  refuse 
to  part  with  him,  or  fix  the  price  beyond  the  possi- 
bility of  attainment.  The  fact  is,  in  short,  that  in 
Russia,  as  in  every  country  where  the  laws  are 
feeble, —  the  slave-holding  states,  for  example.  —  the 
condition  of  the  serf  depends  upon  the  character  of 
the  seigneur.  Where  one  class  has  great  power 
over  another,  there  will  be  abuse  ;  and,  what  is  more 
pernicious  to  the  moral  and  mental  character  of  the 
governed,  insecurity.     At  the  worst,  there  is  not  so 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  235 

much  oppression  in  Russia  as  formerly,  and  the  con- 
dition of  the  serfs  is  not  so  bad,  generally,  as  might, 
a  priori^  be  supposed.  No  serf  ever  starves  in  Rus- 
sia ;  he  has  a  greater  command  of  the  necessaries 
of  life  than  the  Irish  serf.  The  villages  are  often 
as  snug  and  comfortable  as  English,  almost  as  much 
so  as  Yankee  ones  ;  a  Scotch  writer  admits  that 
they  are  on  a  par  with  Caledonian  villages,  except 
in  the  article  of  dirt,  which  is  far  less  abundant  and 
less  ostentatious  in  Russia  than  in  the  land  of  cakes. 
A  south-western  negro  quarter,  or  an  Irish  hovel, 
would  be  considered  derogatory  to  the  breeding  of 
a  Russian  swine. 

Something  may  justly  be  said,  too,  in  justifica- 
tion of  the  present  race  of  serf-holders.  The  num- 
ber of  brutal,  ignorant  tyrants,  always  to  be  found 
in  a  slave-holding  aristocracy,  is  rapidly  diminishing 
in  Russia  under  the  knives  and  hatchets  of  their 
victims,  the  influence  of  civilization  and  improved 
laws,  and  the  example  of  the  emperor.  The  master 
may  chastise  the  servant ;  but  if  the  latter  die  of 
the  correction,  he  is  hanged  for  the  murder.  The 
serfs  on  the  estates  of  humane  and  enlightened  mas- 
ters are  well  supplied  with  all  the  comforts  of  life. 
We  do  not  know,  from  any  positive  authority,  that 
the  property  acquired  by  licensed  serfs  is  any  better 
protected  by  law  now  than  it  was  before  the  reign 
of  Nicholas;  yet  such  must  be  the  fact.  Else, 
should  we  hear  of  one  licensed  serf  having  four 
thousand  laborers  at  once  in  his  pay  in  St.  Peters- 
burg, and  of  another's  planning  and  building  the 
Kazan  cathedral  church,  the  finest  in  that  splendid 
city  ?  Should  we  be  told  of  serfs  rolling  in  their 
carriages,  and  living  as  magnificently  as  the  mag- 
nates of  the  land,  were  it  in  the  power  of  their  mas- 
ters to  despoil  them  ?     There  were  no  such  slaves 


236  VINDICATION    OP    RUSSIA    AND 

in  the  West  Indies ;  there  are  none  such  in  the 
United  States. 

It  is  to  he  taken  into  account,  however,  that  the 
proprietors  pay  a  tax  on  their  peasants  to  the  treas- 
ury, at  the  rate  of  about  four  rubles  per  male  head  ; 
and  that  they  are  required  to  furnish  recruits  for  the 
army,  according  to  the  number  of  their  tenantry. 
Moreover,  they  are  under  legal  obligation  to  pro- 
vide their  serfs,  old  and  young,  sick  or  well,  with 
the  necessaries  of  life,  and,  if  one  of  them  is  found 
begging,  his  master  is  fined. 

The  Russian  landed  proprietors  are  at  least  as 
well  educated  and  intelligent  a  class  as  the  French 
or  English  ones.  They  are,  therefore,  generally 
aware  that  their  own  interests  and  respectability 
depend  upon  the  condition  of  their  peasants.  The 
abuse  of  their  power  is  not  therefore  general,  or 
even  common.  To  increase  the  value  of  their 
property,  their  fathers  used  to  compel  their  serfs  to 
marry  as  soon  as  they  attained  puberty,  as  is  prac- 
tised in  Virginia  without  any  ceremony.  Peter 
forbade  compulsion  in  the  case ;  and  Alexander,  in 
1801,  fixed  the  marriageable  ages  of  both  sexes  at 
eighteen  and  sixteen.  At  present,  the  proprietors 
trouble  themselves  little  about  the  matter. 

Ritchie  found  the  serfs  of  Prince  S.  Gargarin,  "  one 
of  the  most  humane  and  intelligent  "  aristocrats  in 
Russia,  at  Yassenova,  ''  as  happy  and  comfortable 
as  any  peasantry  in  the  world,  with  large  gardens 
well  stocked  with  fruit-trees,  and  their  public  bath  — 
an  unfailing  sign  of  Russia  —  clean  and  in  good 
order. 

"  The  very  reverse  of  this  description,  however, 
applied  to  a  village  close  by,  of  which  the  proprie- 
tor was  a  lady.  This  is  the  dreadful  evil  of  the 
system :  the  happiness,  or  misery,  of  a  great  portion 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  237 

of  the  people  of  Russia  depends  upon  the  moral 
character  of  a  comparativ^ely  small  number  of  indi- 
viduals." 

In  another  place,  the  same  author  thus  describes 
a  scene  in  Russian  rural  life  :  '"I  was  particularly 
struck  with  the  neat,  and  even  genteel,  appearance 
of  one  of  the  houses  ;  and,  with  the  aid  of  an  inter- 
preter, made  some  inquiries  which  threw  a  good 
deal  of  light  upon  the  manners  of  the  peasantry. 
To  build  the  house,  we  were  told,  cost  a  thousand 
rubles  ;  which  was,  in  all  probability,  not  half  the 
real  sum.  Even  the  lady-mujik  who  did  the  honors 
smiled  significantly  as  she  gave  us  this  piece  of  in- 
formation ;  half  in  doubt,  as  it  seemed,  whether  it 
would  be  more  unpleasant  to  let  us  undervalue  her 
acquisition,  or  to  run  the  risk  of  the  story  of  her 
wealth  getting  to  the  landlord's  ears.  Yet  her 
landlord  was  Prifice  S.  Gargarin.  The  explana- 
tion is,  that  the  obrok  is  fixed  by  the  master,  and 
may  consequently  be  supposed  to  correspond  with 
the  means  of  the  serf. 

"  The  building  occupied  a  large  space  of  ground, 
but  the  greater  part  consisted  of  what,  in  an  English 
farm,  would  be  outhouses.  In  a  climate  like  this, 
every  thing  must  be  under  one  roof.  The  dwelling- 
house  was  composed  of  three  small  apartments,  in- 
stead of  merely  the  usual  "  butt  and  ben  ;  "  and 
here  resided  three  respectable  and  well-doing  fami- 
lies—  that  of  the  father,  and  those  of  his  two  sons. 
In  Russia,  when  a  peasant  marries,  he  brings  his 
wife  home  ;  and,  though  the  common  nest  does  not 
become  larger,  the  old  birds  make  a  little  room  for 
the  stranger,  while  the  grandchildren,  being  born 
on  the  spot,  make  room  for  themselves.  The 
atmosphere  of  the  house  was  incomparably  hotter 
than  that  of  the  street,  which  was  baking  in  the 


238  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

sun  ;  and  every  door,  window,  or  chink,  was  kept 
carefully  shut.  It  is  to  this  artificial  atmosphere, 
and  to  this  alone,  that  the  premature  decay  of  beauty 
is  owing.  The  vapor  bath,  I  feel  convinced,  is 
rather  favorable  to  it  than  otherwise. 

''  The  garden,  or  rather  orchard,  was  large,  and 
well  stocked  with  the  usual  kind  of  fruit-trees. 
Almost  all  these,  however,  were  planted  from  the 
seeds  ;  and  I  observed  some  apple-trees,  which,  al- 
though five  years'  old,  were  not  more  than  six  feet 
high.  Our  conductress  pointed  out  a  few  slips 
which  had  been  lately  set  in  the  ground,  but  she 
appeared  to  be  in  some  doubt  as  to  their  thriving, 
saying  that  they  did  not  understand  that  mode  of 
planting.  This  woman  had  the  most  beautiful 
teeth  I  ever  saw  ;  and  having  hitherto  been  accus- 
tomed only  to  the  beauties  of  the  city  and  of  the 
great  roads,  I  asked  her,  in  surprise,  to  what  this 
was  owing.  She  replied  that  she  never  painted  her 
face  ;  and  that,  after  being  in  Moscow  for  two  years 
as  a  nurse,  finding  the  use  of  tea  discolored  her  teeth, 
she  had  returned  instantly  to  her  village  in  order  to 
preserve  those  ornaments,  which  had  been  envied  by 
women  of  the  highest  distinction.  The  manners 
of  this  peasant  were  easy  and  graceful,  I  was  going 
to  say,  lady-like ;  and,  when  bidding  us  adieu,  she 
observed,  with  an  inclination  which  would  have 
done  honor  to  a  duchess,  that  *  if  we  would  repeat 
our  visit  in  a  week  or  two,  when  the  fruit  was 
ripe,  it  would  give  her  still  more  pleasure.'  This 
was  very  well  for  a  female  barbarian." 

True.  Had  Mr.  Ritchie  visited  a  Yankee  farm- 
house, he  would  have  been  required  to  give  an  ac- 
count of  himself;  whence  he  came,  whither  he 
was  going,  and  what  his  business  was,  together 
with  the  particular  details  of  his  birth,  parentage, 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  239 

education,  and  legal  settlement.  At  an  English  cot- 
tage, he  would  probably  have  been  dismissed  with 
a  request  for  "  sumniat  to  drink  his  honor's 
health."  Nevertheless,  the  poor  mujik  did  as  well 
as  she  knew  how,  and  acquitted  herself  handsome- 
ly, considering  —  that  her  guest  was  a  British 
traveller. 

The  value  of  a  Russian  estate  formerly  depend- 
ed more  on  the  number  of  its  serfs  than  on  the 
extent  or  quality  of  the  soil ;  but,  owing  to  the  com- 
pulsory division  of  estates  on  the  death  of  proprie- 
tors, and  the  increase  of  population,  such  is  not 
now  the  case.  The  proprietor  is  sometimes  bur- 
dened with  the  support  of  more  peasants  than  he 
can  employ,  and  has  to  pay  the  government  tax  on 
them  beside.  This  will  account  for  the  general 
willingness  of  the  nobles  to  sell  the  slaves  their 
freedom,  and  to  accept  the  obrok.  In  almost  all  of 
Great  Russia,  the  proprietors  have  nothing  to  do 
with  their  tenants  but  to  receive  their  rent,  (obrok.) 
In  the  Baltic  provinces  the  landlords  keep  some 
part  of  their  estates  in  their  own  hands,  which  is 
cultivated  by  the  task-work  of  the  peasants  on  the 
other  portions,  who  are  allowed  houses  and  grounds 
for  their  service. 

It  may  seem  that,  provided  the  obrok  were  mod- 
erate, whether  paid  in  money  or  work,  and  the  land- 
lord allowed  the  tenant  to  reap  the  benefit  of  his 
increased  industry  or  economy,  there  would  be  little 
objection,  to  this  system;  but  its  uncertainty  spoils 
all.  If  the  peasant  thrives  and  improves  his  land,  the 
chance  is  that  his  obrok  will  be  raised,  or  a  part  of 
his  farm  taken  away.  Even  the  crown  peasants 
suffer  from  the  extortion  of  those  to  whom  their 
lands  are  let,  though  the  amount  of  their  task-work 
is  fixed  by  law.      Hence  labor   is   avoided,    and 


240  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

there  is  little  improvement  on  any  lands  not  man- 
aged by  the  actual  proprietors,  or  by  free  tenants. 

When  the  population  of  an  estate  parcelled 
among  serfs  increases,  a  new  distribution  must  ne- 
cessarily be  made  ;  and  if  there  is  no  unoccupied 
land,  room  must  be  made  for  the  new-comers  on 
the  grounds  already  occupied.  Then  the  old  occu- 
pants, if  dissatisfied,  are  licensed  to  go  where  they 
please,  still  paying  their  obrok  half-yearly. 

The  Russian  peasant  is  satisfied  with  his  diet,  if 
he  have  cabbage  soup,  with  pork  boiled  in  it,  and  rye 
bread,  which  is  the  staple  food  of  the  empire.  On 
holidays,  he  indulges  in  butcher's  meat ;  and  at  oth- 
er times,  he  eats  eggs,  salt  fish,  pork,  bacon,  onions, 
and  mushrooms,  which  are  very  abundant  in  their 
season.  His  favorite  dish  is  a  salmagundi  made  of 
oats  and  rye  flour,  fresh  or  salt  meat,  redolent  of 
garlic  and  onions.  Salted  cucumbers  are  never  ab- 
sent from  his  table  ;  and  these,  and  salted  cabbage, 
are  important  items  of  internal  commerce.  He  is 
compelled  to  this  fodder  by  the  extraordinary  num- 
ber of  fasts  and  fast  days ;  indeed,  there  are  but 
about  sixty  days  in  the  year  on  which  he  dares  to 
look  at  meat.  He  is  very  fond  of  meat ;  but  fond- 
er still  of  brandy.  The  consumption  thereof  is 
eighty  millions  of  gallons  a  year,  and  produces  a 
large  annual  revenue  for  the  government  —  probably 
not  less  than  one  third. 

Notwithstanding  this,  the  Emperor  Nicholas  has, 
at  his  own  expense,  published  the  Rev.  Dr.  Baird's 
History  of  Temperance,  besides  printing  various 
tracts,  which  he  has  distributed  throughout  his 
empire.  In  fine,  he  gave  Dr.  Baird  every  possible 
encouragement.  "We  wonder  if  any  other  Euro- 
pean sovereign  would  have  done  as  much. 

The    Russian    peasantry  are    of  middle   stature, 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  241 

healthy,  stout,  and  firmly  built.  They  live  to- 
gether in  log  villages,  with  the  gables  of  the 
houses  to  the  road.  Sometimes  the  houses  are  of 
two  stories.  They  are  not  uncomfortable,  as  every 
American  knows.  Beds  are  by  no  means  consid- 
ered necessaries  of  life  by  the  Russian  peasants. 

About  one  or  two  out  of  five  hundred  males  or- 
dinarily go  to  swell  the  army  and  navy  ;  but,  in 
war,  two  or  three  males  out  of  five  hundred  are 
taken.  In  one  or  two  instances,  one  of  a  hun- 
dred has  been  drafted ;  but  this  was  the  maxi- 
mum. The  seigneurs  select  the  recruits,  and,  of 
course,  rid  themselves  of  the  most  troublesome 
members  of  the  community ;  only  they  must  be 
between  eighteen  and  forty  years  of  age,  healthy 
and  able-bodied. 

The  conscript  becomes  a  free  man,  if  a  soldier 
can  be  so  called.  If  he  desert,  he  is  enslaved 
again  ;  but  this  rarely  happens.  His  children  are 
educated  at  public  or  regimental  schools,  and,  if 
they  deserve  it,  become  officers.  Twelve  years  of 
faithful  service  in  the  ranks  entitle  the  private  sol- 
dier to  a  commission.  There  are  no  capital  pun- 
ishments in  the  Russian  army  in  time  of  peace. 
Corporal  punishments,  not  exceeding  twenty 
strokes  of  the  knout,  may  be  inflicted  by  officers  in 
command  of  regiments,  but  only  for  very  grave 
offences.  At  the  expiration  of  their  term  of  service, 
Russian  soldiers  receive  a  small  pension.  The 
wounded  are  maintained  in  hospitals. 

A  soldier  who  remains  in  the  service  after  his 
term  has  expired,  receives  double  pay,  and  is  ex- 
empted from  corporal  punishment.  If  he  serve 
voluntarily  five  years,  he  retires  on  a  pension  equal 
to  three  times  his  original  pay. 

We  believe  we  have  sketched,  in  a  few  bold 
21 


242  VINDICATION    or    RUSSIA    AND 

Strokes,  the  condition  of  the  slaves  or  serfs  of  Rus- 
sia, in  all  its  political  phases  Catherine  desired  to 
abolish  it,  and  did  something.  "  Servants  ought 
not  to  be  treated  too  harshly,"  said  she  in  her  In- 
structions ;  ''for  harshness  begets  resistance." 
Alexander  was  the  enlightened  friend  of  the  slave, 
and  did  something  more.  From  the  well-known 
disposition,  and  the  superior  energy  and  intelli- 
gence of  Nicholas  —  from  what  he  has  already  done, 
we  may  expect  a  great  deal  more.  Still,  it  is  unde- 
niable that  he  has  great  difficulties  to  contend  Avith. 
We  prate  of  the  danger  and  difficulty  of  immedi- 
ately emancipating  less  than  three  millions ;  what, 
then,  must  it  be  where  there  are  between  forty  and 
fifty? 

Nicholas  has  placed  the  crown  serfs  —  nearly 
half  of  the  entire  Russian  peasantry  — almost  in  the 
condition  of  rent-paying  English  peasants,*  living 
in  small  communes  of  their  own,  and  governed  by 
individuals  of  their  own  body.  Still,  they  are  the 
property  of  the  crown ;  but  the  practice  is  here 
again,  as  with  the  tenants  of  individuals,  better 
than  the  theory.  To  all  intents  and  purposes,  the 
crown  peasants  of  Russia  are,  for  the  time  being,  as 
free,  as  comfortable,  and  as  happy,  as  any  peasantry 
in  Europe. t 

The  peasants  licensed  by  their  lords  to  reside  in 
towns  learn  something  of  freedom,  look  with  a 
shudder  on  the  indignities  to  which  their  village 
companions  are  exposed,  and  hasten  to  buy  their 
freedom,  that  they  may  themselves  be  exempted 
from  the  like.  This,  if  the  pride  or  caprice  of  their 
masters  does  not  prevent  them,  they  soon  effect, 
and  then  the  career  of  ambition  is  open  to  them, 

*  London  Quarterly,  March,  1841.  t  Ibid. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  243 

The  Emperor  Nicholas  has  taken  this  class  under 
his  especial  protection.  He  has  ennobled  it,  by 
making  it  an  object  of  general  ambition  to  be  en- 
rolled in  it,  and  he  is  looked  upon  by  the  mujiks  as 
something  more  than  a  friend  —  as  a  protecting 
angel.  They  sometimes  assassinate  their  masters ; 
but  they  are,  one  and  all,  at  all  times  ready  to  lay 
down  their  lives  for  their  emperor.  We  must  turn 
to  the  pages  of  fiction  to  form  an  idea  of  the  devo- 
tion of  these  poor  creatures. 

It  is  frequently  alleged,  in  regard  to  the  slaves  in 
the  United  States,  that  the  great  body  of  them  would 
not  accept  freedom  were  it  offered  to  them.  This 
we  believe  to  be  true  of  no  body  of  slaves  on  earth  — 
least  of  all,  of  ours  ;  but  it  is  unquestionable  that  a 
very  great  many  of  the  Russian  serfs  are  of  that  way 
of  thinking.  If  a  noble  breaks  the  bonds  of  a  serf, 
he,  of  course,  resumes  his  land,  which,  were  justice 
law,  belongs  to  the  serf,  for  he  received  it  from  his 
ancestors,  and  on  it  he  and  his  children  were  born. 
To  become  a  tenant,  liable  to  be  turned  off  in  a 
moment,  to  abandon  all  his  privileges,  (secured  to 
him  by  time  and  habit,)  is  a  new  and  startling  idea 
to  him.  He  would  stare  to  be  told  that  he  had  no 
property  in  the  value  he  and  his  sires  had  created. 
If  he  has  any  idea  of  liberty  at  all,  it  is  that  he 
may  enjoy  the  land  without  paying  rent. 

This  is  not  a  mere  speculative  supposition.  It  is 
usual  in  Russia,  when  a  change  of  proprietors  takes 
place,  for  the  serfs  to  beg  their  liberty  of  their  new 
lord ;  and  sometimes  they  obtain  it.  In  the  year 
1836,  Mademoiselle  D ,  one  of  the  most  intel- 
ligent women  in  the  empire,  bought  an  estate  Avith 
five  hundred  serfs,  some  of  whom  asked,  and  imme- 
diately obtained,  their  liberty  :  and  it  was  proclaimed 
throughout  the  estate,  that  all  who  should  demand 


244  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

the  same  boon  should  receive  it  unconditionally. 
After  this,  not  an  application  was  made.* 

Another  small   village,   of  forty   or  fifty   males, 

came  into  the  possession  of  M.  Z ,  of  Moscow, 

who  called  all  his  serfs  about  him,  and  proffered 
them  their  freedom,  with  the  privilege  of  remaining 
on  the  land,  as  tenants.     They  all  refused.f 

We  do  not  mean  to  have  it  inferred  that  the  serfs 
who  would  refuse  freedom  are  the  bulk  of'  the 
Russian  peasantry  ;  far  from  it.  They  are  the  ex- 
ception, not  the  rule.  The  number  of  licensed 
mujiks  in  the  cities  gives  the  lie  to  any  such  suppo- 
sition. Even  in  this  country,  slaves  have  been 
known  to  remain  in  voluntary  bondage.  But  we 
do  mean  that  the  class  is  larger  in  Russia  than  in 
any  other  slave-holding  country  in  the  world ;  so 
great,  indeed,  that,  should  the  emperor  attempt  im- 
mediate emancipation,  he  Avould  probably  meet 
with  as  much  difficulty  on  the  part  of  the  slaves  as 
of  the  lords.  Hence  the  inference  is  plain,  that  the 
serfs  are  not  heinously  abused,  generally,  and  that 
the  lords  do  not  usually  transcend  the  powers  the 
law  recognizes  in  them. 

The  serfs  of  Poland,  in  its  best  days,  were  far 
more  wretched  than  the  Russian  peasantry.  When 
the  virtuous  and  truly  patriotic  Chancellor  Zamoyski 
emancipated  his  slaves,  in  1780,  as  we  have  already 
stated  in  the  fourth  chapter,  he  expressed  a  fear 
that  they  would  give  themselves  up  to  idleness  and 
licentiousness.  The  answer  returned  by  the  an- 
cients of  the  commune  contained  a  volume  of  phi- 
losophy. ''  When  we  had  no  property  but  the  sticks 
in  our  hands,"  said  they,  "  we  had  no  encourage- 
ment to  be  orderly  and  industrious;  and  we  always 

*  Ritchie.  t  Ibid.  •<'^.u 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  245 

acted  inconsiderately,  because  we  had  nothing  to 
lose  by  it.  But  now  that  these  lands,  and  these 
houses,  and  these  cattle,  are  our  own,  the  fear  of 
losing  them  will  be  a  sufficient  restraint  upon  us." 

The  success  of  the  chancellor's  experiment  justi- 
fied his  foresight,  as  well  on  his  own  estates  as  on 
those  of  the  younger  Poniatowski,  who  followed  his 
example.* 

There  is  some  doubt  in  our  mind  whether  we 
have  a  right  to  call  the  Russian  people  barbarians 
or  not.  We  call  the  Turks  infidels.  Nevertheless, 
a  man  may  blaspheme  the  name  of  Christ  with  im- 
punity in  the  streets  of  London,  Paris,  or  New 
York  ;  but,  if  he  should  do  so  in  Constantinople, 
or  Cairo,  it  would  cost  him  his  head.  We  call  the 
Chinese,  a  more  industrious  and  a  more  peaceful 
people  than  any  in  Europe  or  America,  barbarians, 
precisely  because  they  are  deficient  in  the  most  bar- 
barous of  all  knowledge — the  art  of  shedding 
blood ;  for,  in  the  essentials  of  civilization,  which 
we  take  to  be  good  laws,  strictly  executed,  they 
are  far  before  France  or  England ;  and,  in  the  useful 
arts  of  peace,  they  are  far  before  Spain,  Portugal, 
Italy,  Greece,  and  Sardinia.  We  should  like  to 
know  in  what  the  Russians  are  more  barbarous 
than  other  people.  It  is  true,  the  lower  classes  wear 
their  linen  outside  their  trousers ;  but,  then,  the 
Irish  peasantry,  who  are  not  accounted  barbarians, 
dispense  with  that  luxury  altogether.  The  Rus- 
sians take  no  care  of  their  horses  :  we  and  the 
English  have  the  bad  taste  and  brutality  to  ampu- 
tate the  tails  of  ours.  They  like  the  knout :  we 
prefer  the  cat-o '-nine-tails,  and  rejoice  in  the  pillory, 
the  jail,  and  the  gibbet.     They  have  bad  laws : 

*  Guthrie's  Grammar. 
21* 


246  VIxNDICATION    OF    RtJSSiA    AND 

when  they  have  tinkered  them  as  long  as  we  have 
oiirSj  they  will  probably  be  as  good  —  if  they  are 
not  worn  out  in  the  mending.  We  are  free  :  the 
Russians  are  civil,  polite,  and  good-tempered.  We 
pretend  to  be  religious  :  they  are  so.  They  live  on 
rye  bread  and  salted  cabbage  :  the  Spaniard  pam- 
pers himself  with  pride  and  garlic ;  the  Scot  on  the 
food  of  horses  ;  the  Irishman  on  potatoes  ;  the  Nor- 
wegian on  pine  bark ;  and  the  poor  Frenchman  on 
small  wine  and  whatever  it  pleases  the  Lord.  We 
have  plenty  of  schools,  and  do  not  profit  by  half  of 
them  ;  the  Russian  barbarians  fill  all  they  have  and 
cry  for  more  —  not  exactly  as  we  cry  for  liberty,  and 
as  our  children  cry  for  Sherman's  Lozenges,  but 
in  truth,  and  right-down,  serious  earnest.  The 
Russian  gains  information  by  silent,  attentive  listen- 
ing ;  we  get  it  by  asking  impertinent  questions, 
and  from  such  blockheads,  and  worse,  as  English 
travellers,  stump  orators,  and  political  newspaper 
editors.  The  civilized  Poles  and  Texans  call  a 
pirate  a  patriot,  and  shout  hallelujah  :  the  unculti- 
vated Russians  give  him  the  knout,  and  pack  him 
off  to  Siberia. 

Still,  it  is  a  settled  and  not  to  be  controverted 
point,  that  the  Russians  are  barbarians.  They  know 
nothing  of  architecture,  though  Moscow  is  the  most 
gorgeous,  and  St.  Petersburg  the  most  perfect  city 
in  Europe.  Of  course,  they  are  ignorant  of  the 
mechanic  arts  :  the  traveller  in  Russia  may  buy  any 
article  of  necessity,  or  convenience,  or  ornament, 
made  by  Russian  hands,  as  good  and  as  cheap  as  he 
could  in  Paris  or  Birmingham ;  but  this  is  all  imi- 
tation.    What  kind  of  savages  are  they,  then  ? 

The  Russian  air  does  not  ring  with  curses  like 
that  of  Ireland  ;  the  empire  has  no  Peep-o'-day- 
boys,  or  Rebeccaites,  to  illuminate  its  nights.     The 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  247 

Russians  have  no  aborigines  to  convert,  or  extermi- 
nate ;  on  the  contrary,  the  aborigines  (we  mean  the 
Circassians  and  other  aboriginal  tribes)  do  their  best 
to  exterminate  them. 

Their  laws  are,  perhaps,  not  the  best,  or  the  best 
executed,  in  detail,  but  they  have  never,  but  once  or 
twice,  descended  to  the  degradation  of  Lynch  law. 
There  are  no  Russian  mobs  of  ''  respectable  gentle- 
men," to  grind  the  gaps  out  of  the  sword  of  justice, 
because  it  does  not  cut  quick  and  fast  enough  for 
them. 

The  Russian  Jehovah  is  not  a  Moloch  :  the  Rus- 
sians have  not  even  an  Inquisition,  nor  do  they  cut 
each  other's  throats  about  religion.  The  Russian 
senators  do  not  spit  in  each  other's  faces  in  the 
senate  chamber ;  nor  are  the  members  of  their  gov- 
ernments ever  murdered  or  mangled  with  pistols 
and  Bowie  knives  in  their  seats. 


248  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 


CHAPTER   XI. 

THE  EMPEROR  NICHOLAS  1.  — THE  CHOLERA- 
MUTINIES.  —  LETTER  FROM  DR.  BAIRD. 

During  the  late  war  with  Great  Britain,  the 
mothers  of  Canada  abandoned  their  hereditary- 
bugaboos,  and  reduced  their  froward  children  to 
submission  with  the  mystic  word  Yankee.  Sa- 
tan's name  would  not  have  scared  them  more.  It 
chanced  that  an  American  gentleman,  travelling 
from  Little  York  to  Montreal,  stopped  at  a  road- 
side inn,  to  refresh  himself.  He  was  shown  into 
the  best  room,  whence  he  heard  a  terrible  outcry 
in  the  kitchen  among  the  children ;  and,  going  to 
the  door  to  ascertain  the  cause,  he  heard  the  land- 
lady admonish  them  to  be  still,  as  they  valued  their 
lives  and  their  souls'  salvation,  for  there  was  a 
Yankee  in  the  parlor! — when  all  was  hush,  but 
the  hissing  of  the  bacon  and  eggs  in  the  frying-pan. 

Much  amused  by  what  he  had  heard,  our  travel- 
ler left  the  door  slightly  ajar;  but  all  continued 
still.  The  children  had  absquatulated.  Presently 
a  tiny  face  was  seen  at  the  parlor  window,  and 
soon  after,  a  child  entered  the  kitchen,  screaming 
at  the  top  of  his  voice,  "  It's  no  use  to  talk  to 
me,  mother  —  I'm  not  to  be  had.  It's  not  a  Yan- 
kee ;  for  I've  looked  into  the  window,  and  it's  a 
gentleman ! " 

Gentle  or  ungentle  reader,  if  you  have  read  the 
preceding  pages  of  this  little  volume,  looking  for 
the  monstrous  autocrat,  despot,  tyrant,  oppressor,  or 
what  not  that  is  evil, — the  Nicholas  who  has  frighted 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  249 

all  Christendom  from  its  propriety,  —  we  hope  you 
have  seen  at  least  enough  of  him  to  convince  you 
that,  like  the  Yankee,  and  a  certain  gentleman 
whose  name  is  offensive,  the  Russian  emperor  is 
not  so  black  as  he  has  been  painted.  Unless  you 
are  a  Pole,  we  think  you  will  acknowledge  that 
such  is  the  case. 

Nicholas  I.,  son  of  the  Emperor  Paul,  was  born 
July  6,  1796,  and  ascended  the  Russian  throne 
December  1,  1825.  He  was  crowned  at  Moscow, 
September  3,  1826,  and  at  Warsaw,  May  24,  1829. 

He  was  married  to  the  Empress  Alexandra  Feo- 
dorowna,  July  13,  1817.  She  was  formerly  Fred- 
erica  Louisa  Charlotte  Wilhelmine,  daughter  of 
the  late  William  III.,  King  of  Prussia.  They  have 
seven  children :  — 

1.  Alexander,  Czarewitsch  and  Hereditary  Grand 
Duke;  born  April  29,  1818;  affianced  December 
18,  1840,  to  the  Princess  Maximilienne  Wilhel- 
mine Augusta  Sophia  Maria,  born  August  8,  1824, 
daughter  of  the  Grand  Duke  Louis  XL,  of  Hesse. 

2.  Maria;  born  August  18,  1819,  and  married 
July  14,  1839,  to  Duke  Maximilian  Joseph  Eugene 
Augustus  Napoleon,  of  Leichtenberg,  Prince  of 
Eichstadt,  who  was  born  October  2,  1817.  They 
live  in  St.  Petersburg. 

3.  Grand  Duchess  Olga;  born  September  11, 
1822. 

4.  Grand  Duchess  Alexandra;  born  June  24, 
1825. 

5.  Grand  Duke  Constantine ;  born  September 
21,  1827. 

6.  Grand  Duke  Nicholas ;  born  August  8,  1831. 

7.  Grand  Duke  Michael ;  born  October  25,  1832. 
Brothers  and  sisters  :  — 

1.  The  reigning  Grand  Duchess  of  Saxe  Wei- 
mar, Maria. 


fifiO  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

2.  The  Clueen  of  the  Netherlands,  Anna,  born 
1795. 

3.  The  Grand  Duke  Michael,  born  February 
8,  1798 ;  married  February  19,  1824,  to  the  Grand 
Duchess  Helena  Paulowna,  formerly  Frederica 
Charlotte  Maria,  daughter  of  Prince  Paul  of  Wur- 
temberg,  niece  of  the  king,  born  January  19,  1807, 
and  embraced  the  Greek  ritual  December  17,  1823. 
They  have  three  daughters,  Maria,  Elizabeth,  and 
Catherine. 

The  most  conspicuous  points  in  the  character  of 
Nicholas  I.,  as  a  sovereign,  are  unquestionably  his 
iron  energy,  that  shrinks  from  no  responsibility, 
and  spares  no  effort ;  his  untiring  industry  ;  and  his 
unflinching  moral  and  physical  courage.  A  stronger 
proof  than  he  gave  of  all  three  of  these  qualities 
when  he  mounted  a  throne  on  the  brink  of  an  up- 
heaving volcano,  in  the  midst  of  a  rebellion,  which 
he  crushed  at  once  beneath  his  armed  heel,  has  sel- 
dom, if  ever,  been  given  by  a  crowned  head.  How 
easily,  had  he  faltered  in  the  slightest  degree,  might 
he  have  been  hurled  from  the  throne  into  the  grave  ! 
He  has  been  censured  for  rashness,  for  throwing 
himself,  unarmed,  into  the  midst  of  a  furious  mob, 
whose  appetite  for  blood  had  just  been  whetted  by 
that  of  General  Miloradovitsch ;  but  it  was  an  oc- 
casion that  justified,  nay,  required,  what  would 
have  otherwise  been  fool-hardihood.  It  was  the 
crisis  of  his  destiny,  the  moment  that  stamped  his 
character — that  was  to  make  him  the  scoflT,  or  the 
admiration,  of  his  subjects ;  it  was,  in  short,  his 
bridge  of  Areola,  his  passage  of  the  Rubicon.  His 
determined  perseverance  in  trampling  out  the  smoul- 
dering embers  of  that  rebellion  probably  preserved 
the  throne  of  Russia  to  him,  and  him  to  the  throne 
of  Russia;    for,   had   the   Polish   insurrection   of 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  251 

1830-31  broken  out  simultaneously  in  both  coun- 
tries, who  shall  say  what  the  result  might  have 
been  ? 

The  second  time  the  peculiar  energies  of  Nicho- 
las, as  well  as  the  filial  affection  of  his  people, 
were  put  to  the  test,  was  in  the  year  1832,  in  the 
time  of  the  cholera,  when  the  Ssadowaja  (Garden 
Street)  witnessed  the  first  and  only  barricade  ever 
thrown  up  by  the  populace  during  the  existence  of 
young  St.  Petersburg.  It  was  at  the  end  of  the 
Ssadowaja,  just  where  it  enters  the  spacious  area 
of  the  Haymarket.  The  epidemic  was  raging  ;  and 
the  lower  orders,  w^ho  make  a  daily  exchange  of 
the  Haymarket,  had  gotten  it  into  their  sagacious 
heads  that  the  disease  was  not  sent  by  God,  but 
generated  and  continued,  by  the  medical  faculty,  by 
poison.  We  are  not  aware  what  motives  they  as- 
signed to  the  doctors,  other  than  the  undeniable 
fact,  that  it  was  their  interest  that  people  should 
be  sick ;  or  whether  they  had  any  color  for  their 
conjecture  ;  but  it  is  certain  that,  after  a  long  dis- 
content and  sullen  rage,  they  rose  in  open  insur- 
rection against  the  authorities.  Old  men,  with 
hoary  hair  and  gray  beards,  scoured  riotously  and 
desperately  through  the  streets,  stopped  the  cholera 
carriages,  and  compelled  the  patients  they  were 
conveying  to  the  hospitals  to  alight,  or,  if  they 
were  unable,  dragged  them  out.  They  unhar- 
nessed the  horses,  and  shattered  the  vehicles  into 
pieces,  which  they  carried  to  the  Foutanka  canal, 
and  threw  them  into  the  water.  Then,  to  prevent 
the  interference  of  the  police,  they  barricaded  all 
the  avenues  to  the  Haymarket  with  hay-carts,  the 
end  of  the  Ssadowaja  in  particular.  This  they 
blocked  with  a  pile  of  carts  as  high  as  the  houses, 
behind  which  several  thousand  rioters  bivouacked 


252  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

for  the  night,  determined  to  take  as  summary  ven- 
geance on  the  doctors,  in  the  morning,  as  they  had 
already  done  on  the  sick  carts. 

In  the  morning,  they  actually  did  storm  the  great 
cholera  hospital  near  the  Haymarket,  and  turned 
all  the  patients  into  the  street,  with  the  charitable 
view  of  delivering  them  from  their  supposed  tor- 
mentors. One  of  the  most  eminent  German  phy- 
sicians was  first  flung  out  of  a  window,  and  then 
torn  to  pieces  by  the  madmen  below.  At  this 
moment,  their  fury  was  arrested  by  the  words, 
^^  Na  kalenje  !  na  kalenje  ! ''^  (To  your  knees!) 
pronounced  by  a  voice  of  thunder ;  and  they  knelt, 
as  one  man,  penitent,  sobbing,  and  praying. 

Information  of  what  was  passing  had  been  sent 
to  the  emperor  at  Czarskoe  Sselo,  and  he  had  driven, 
in  his  droska,  unattended  by  a  single  soldier,  to 
the  Haymarket,  where  the  barricades  vanished  at 
his  glance.  There,  he  stood  up  in  his  droska, 
and  tamed  the  multitude  with  two  words,  and  then 
proceeded  to  the  church  situated  on  the  edge  of 
the  Haymarket.  After  crossing  himself  and  pray- 
ing, he  addressed  a  few  words  to  the  mob,  admon- 
ishing them  to  pay  due  reverence  to  God  and  the 
church,  and  commanding  them  to  implore  the 
Almighty's  forgiveness  for  the  sin  they  had  com- 
mitted, and  to  beseech  him,  in  his  mercy,  to  re- 
move the  plague  from  the  city.  While  he  was 
speaking,  the  ringleaders  were  apprehended  and 
taken  away,  by  the  police,  without  any  resistance 
on  the  part  of  the  multitude.* 

A  like  magnanimous  daring  carried  the  emperor 
into  the  ranks  of  the  soldier  peasants,  during  the 
cholera  mutiny.     The  heads  of  the  officers  were 

*  Kohl. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS. 


253 


already  rolling  down  the  steps  of  the  barracks, 
when  he  made  his  appearance  — and  how  ?  —  with 
horse,  foot,  and  artillery  ?  Alone  with  Count  Or- 
bff,  in  his  travelling  carriage.  ''  Soldiers  !  "  cried 
he,  stepping  out,  '^  you  have  committed  the  black- 
est crimes  —  instant  submission  and  acknowledg- 
ment of  your  guilt  alone  shall  save  you."  Down 
dropped  the  muskets,  and  prostrate  fell  the  men. 
"  Now  that  you  are  once  more  my  subjects,"  he 
continued,  '^  I  forgive  you  ;  but  only  on  one  con- 
dition —  that  you  at  once  name  the  men  who  have 
misled  you."  He  was  obeyed  ;  the  fearful  mutiny 
was  quelled,  and  its  instigators  set  out  on  their 
travels  for  Siberia.* 

The  man  who  can  do  these  things  cannot  be  all 
evil,  were  he  the  essential  oil  and  double-distilled 
concentration  of  despotism. 

That  this  high  courage  and  energy  is  not  di- 
vorced from  the  softer  feelings,  in  the  breast  of  the 
man  who  writes  himself  "  autocrat  of  all  the  Rus- 
sians," we  might  assume  from  the  following  state- 
ment, which  we  make  on  the  authority  of  the 
editor  of  the  London  Quarterly  for  March,  1841, 
who  speaks  from  his  own  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence. ''  While  we  are  on  the  road,"  says  he,  "let 
us  also  say  that  Nicholas  is  the  most  gallopping  per- 
sonage who  ever  wore  the  crown  of  the  czars.  No 
distance  stays  him ;  at  St.  Petersburg  to-day,  at 
Astrakhan  in  a  week.  He  flies  by  night  and  by 
day,  at  railway  pace,  always  in  his  simple  caleche, 
and  trusting  Caesar's  fortunes  to  the  conduct  of  his 
wild  (though  capital)  coachmen.  In  the  tens  of 
thousands  of  miles  he  has  thus  travelled,  continu- 
ally changing  drivers,  —  and  many  of  these  peasants 
who  do  not  mount  a  carriage-box  twice  in  the 
year,  — his  majesty  has,  we  believe,  never  met  with 
22 


254  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

more  than  one  serious  overturn.  The  vigor  and 
bodily  endurance  he  has  occasionally  manifested, 
are  quite  wonderful.  When  commanding  the  army 
against  Turkey,  and  already  beyond  his  own  ter- 
ritories, the  news  of  the  last  illness  of  the  em- 
press mother  arrived.  To  Petersburg  he  went, 
without  a  halt,  though  his  carriage  fell  to  pieces 
by  the  way,  and  much  of  the  journey  was  per- 
formed in  carts  or  tilegas.  He  attained  his  object, 
however,  and  secured  the  last  embrace  and  dying 
benediction  of  his  mother  !  This  anecdote  must 
have  its  weight  with  domestic  Englishmen.*  Nor 
will  its  value  be  impaired  if  we  follow  the  imperial 
footsteps  to  the  German  baths,'  and  there  Avitness 
(as  some  of  our  friends  did  last  year)  the  simple 
manners  of  '  M.  and  Madame  Romanoff,'  teach- 
ing, by  example,  to  their  children,  and  offering,  in 
their  social  circle,  a  presage  that  the  virtues  which 
adorn  the  court  of  Nicholas  and  his  amiable  con- 
sort will  be  continued  in  that  of  their  successors." 
Most  writers  complain  bitterly  of  the  frequent 
infliction  of  the  lash  on  the  lower  orders  of  society 
in  Russia.  Speaking  of  this,  the  above-quoted 
writer  says,  "  As  to  blows,  for  aught  that  we 
could  see  or  hear,  they  have  gone  out  of  fashion. 
Though  accompanied  by  Russian  authorities,  who 
had  the  power  in  their  hands,  and  that  over  a  very 
wide  range  of  the  empire,  we  never  saw  but  two 
blows  given  —  the  one  by  a  common  soldier  to  a 
refractory  peasant,  the  other  by  an  inflated  little 
country  mayor  to  a  driver  who  had  contradicted 
him."  We  beg  to  impress  the  fact  on  some  of  our 
prejudiced  readers,  that  the  Russians  of  this  day 
are  not  cudgelled.     Following  up  the  mandates  of 

*  And  with  domestic  Americans,  too. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  255 

Alexander,  Nicholas  has  all  but  extirpated  summary 
punishments  on  the  road.  The  postilions  are  now- 
declared  to  be  imperial  sub-officers,  and  no  one 
can  strike  them  with  impunity. 

While  we  are  on  the  subject  of  roads,  we  may 
mention  that  a  commodious  inn  (commodious  in 
every  thing  but  the  absence  of  beds)  has  been  es- 
tablished, at  the  emperor's  expense,  at  every  station 
between  Moscow  and  St.  Petersburg.  They  are 
all  on  a  uniform  plan,  and  all  kept  by  Germans. 
A  leather-covered  sofa  is  the  lodging  assigned  to 
the  traveller ;  his  servant  avails  himself  of  the 
softest  spot  on  the  floor.  In  time,  perhaps,  the 
servant  may  aspire  to  the  sofa,  while  his  master 
shall   have  been  promoted  to  straw  or  feathers. 

Many  other  instances  might  be  cited  of  the 
strength  of  the  emperor's  kindred  feelings :  we 
shall  be  content  with  the  following: — When  his 
first  grandchild  was  born,  he  passed  the  night  on 
his  knees,  in  prayer  for  the  safety  of  his  best-be- 
loved daughter  Maria,  grand  duchess  of  Leichten- 
berg ;  and  his  first  care,  when  informed  that  her 
labor  was  happily  terminated,  was  to  provide  gifts 
suitable  for  the  mother  and  child. 

"The  high  moral  character  of  the  emperor  has 
been  the  pride  of  the  Russian  world,"  says  a  lady 
writer,  whom  we  have  already  quoted  with  com- 
mendation. The  wife  usually  takes  the  tone  of 
her  character  from  her  husband ;  the  court  always 
adopts  that  of  the  sovereign,  and,  accordingly,  "the 
present  court  of  Russia,"  says  the  Polytechnic 
Journal,  'is  irreproachable  in  regard  to  morals  and 
manners.  The  czar,  indeed,  carries  his  ideas  of 
propriety  to  an  extreme  almost  puritanical ;  and, 
being  an  emperor,  and  a  very  handsome  man,  it  is 
not  a  little  singular  that  he  should  be,  as  he  really 


256  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

is,  an  example  of  conjugal  fidelity.     One  evening 

at  a  court  ball,  the  Princess  ,  a  lady  who  had 

taken  infinite  pains  to  make  herself  agreeable  to 
his  majesty,  was  chosen  as  his  partner.  The  emper- 
or, seeing  Count  Orloff  opposite  to  him,  said  to  the 
princess,  '  What  an  exceedingly  handsome  man 
the  count  is !  ^  'Sire,'  observed  the  lady,  *no 
gentleman  can  appear  handsome  next  to  your 
majesty.'  The  emperor  affected  to  be  offended 
at  this  compliment ;  and  then,  raising  his  voice, 
he  said,  in  a  very  low  tone,  '  Me,  madam  !  —  you 
jest !  I  am  only  handsome  in  the  eyes  of  my 
wife!'  The  poor  princess  was  confounded  at 
this  rebuff,  especially  when  she  observed  the  ma- 
licious smiles  of  the  surrounding  group,  by  whom 
it  had  been  heard. 

*'The  court  of  St.  Petersburg  is  composed  of 
two  distinct  parties;  the  one  superior  in  rank,  the 
other  superior  in  talent.  The  former  is  headed  by 
the  empress  and  her  household ;  the  latter  by  the 
grand  duchess  Helena  and  her  ladies  of  honor." 

The  empress  is  a  most  exemplary  wife  and  moth- 
er ;  but  is  fonder  of  dancing  than  is  at  all  good  for 
her  health.  Her  physicians  forbade  late  hours ; 
but  the  emperor  hit  upon  an  expedient  to  gratify 
her  taste  without  violating  their  orders.  He  com- 
manded that  the  court  balls  should  be  opened  at 
8  P.  M.,  instead  of  at  midnight,  as  previously. 
This,  of  course,  involved  the  sacrifice  of  other 
evening  amusements. 

At  St.  Petersburg,  where  the  emperor  can  be 
seen  every  day,  by  every  body,  he  is  the  czar,  a 
very  great  and  very  good  man,  considerably  up- 
wards of  six  feet  high  ;  —  nothing  more.  At  Mos- 
cow, he  moves  surrounded  with  the  prestige  of 
novelty,  and  there  he  is  all  but  idolized.     "Our 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  257 

little  father !  "  cry  the  upward-gazing  mujiks,  too 
wrapt  in  admiration  to  make  way  for  him. 

"  Come  now,  do  make  a  little  room  for  me," 
says  the  emperor,  with  his  hand  still  raised  to  his 
hat.     *'Do,  brother,  stand  out  of  the  way." 

The  palace  is  surrounded  by  a  crowd  from 
morning  till  night.  There  are  no  guards,  to  hin- 
der them  from  looking  at  their  earthly  father  and 
his  family.  If  one  of  them  happens  to  show  him- 
self at  a  window,  off  goes  every  hat,  as  if  it  were 
Nicholas  himself.  One  day,  as  the  empress  was 
sitting  at  the  window,  the  emperor  came  behind 
her,  passed  his  arm  round  her  neck,  and  kissed  her. 
"  No  one  unacquainted  with  the  Russian  character 
can  conceive  the  effect  of  this  simple  act.  The 
general  shout  that  came  from  the  lips  of  the  people 
arose  from  the  holiest  depths  of  their  hearts,  and 
I  venture  to  say  that  there  was  no  man  of  that 
vast  concourse  who  would  not  have  laid  down  his 
life  for  the  czar,  and  no  woman  who  would  not 
have  urged  her  son,  or  husband,  to  do  so."  * 

The  grand  duchess  Helena's  recreation  is  the 
study  of  science  and  literature.  She  is  one  of  the 
most  intellectual  women  of  the  age,  and  not  less 
distinguished  for  her  talents  than  for  her  beauty. 
A  liberal  patroness  is  she  of  literature  and  the  fine 
arts,  and  receives  literary  parties  two  or  three 
evenings  in  the  week.  A  gentleman,  who  had 
received  a  general  invitation,  arriving  rather  too 
early,  was  shown  into  the  library,  where  he 
amused  himself  by  looking  over  the  books. 
While  thus  employed,  the  grand  duchess  en- 
tered, and  desired  that,  as  it  was  her  wish  to 
vary  the  subjects  of  conversation  at  her  soirees, 

*  Ritchie. 

22* 


258 


VINDICATION     OF     RUSSIA     AND 


he  would  direct  it  a  little  more  to  history,  and  a 
little  less  to  poetry.  "  If  I  had  seen  this  library 
sooner,"  he  replied,  ''I  should  have  seen  that  his- 
tory is  your  imperial  highness's  favorite  study,  and 
known  your  taste ;  but  I  naturally  fancied  that 
poetry  was  the  most  attractive  branch  of  literature 
to  a  lady."  "  Then  my  library  has  informed  you 
of  your  error  ?  "  "  It  has  —  the  books  most  within 
reach,  and  which  appear  to  have  been  most  used, 
show  who  your  highness's  favorite  authors  are.  I 
see  here  the  works  of  Robertson,  Karamsin,  Thier- 
ry, Barante,  and  Von  Muller.  The  poets,  on  the 
contrary,  are  on  the  upper  shelves  ,•  they  glitter  in 
bindings  of  untarnished  brilliancy,  and  the  order 
in  which  they  are  arranged  implies  that  they  are 
not  often  disturbed.  From  all  this,  I  infer  that 
your  highness  reads  a  great  deal  of  history,  and 
not  much  of  poetry."  The  grand  duchess  ad- 
mitted that  the  inference  was  correct.'* 

"  Conspicuous  among  the  group  of  officers,  with 
orders,  stars,  and  cordons  glittering  around  them," 
says  the  Baltic  lady,  speaking  of  the  new  year's 
festival,  at  the  Winter  Palace,  "  was  the  Grand 
Duke  Michael,  the  emperor's  brother,  a  magnificent 
figure,  with  immense  length  of  limb,  and  a  peculiar 
curve  of  outline,  which  renders  him  recognizable 
at  any  distance  among  hundreds  in  the  same  uni- 
form,— who  was  seen  pacing  slowly  backwards  and 
forwards  on  the  marble-like  parquetCj  and  bending 
fierce  looks  on  the  soldiery."  This  prince  does  not 
seem  to  have  found  favor  with  the  fair  writer,  or 
rather,  her  admiration  of  the  emperor  is  so  great 
that  she  has  little,  if  any,  to  spare  for  any  body 
else.     She  describes  the  grand  duke  as  having  "  a 

*  Polytechnic  Journal. 


THE    EMPEROR   NICHOLAS.  259 

fine  bravo  style  of  face,  with  somewhat  ferocious 
moustaches — a  terrestial  Kkeness  of  the  emperor  j 
earthly  passions  written  on  his  high  brow  ;  but 
none  of  Jove's  thanderboUs. 

The  grand  duke  is  a  strict  disciphnarian. 

The  naslednik  heritier,  or  heir  apparent,  Alexan- 
der, "  the  slender  prototype  of  his  father's  grand 
proportions,"  is  thus  described  :  "  He  inherits  his 
father's  majestic  person,  and  somewhat  of  the  regu- 
larity of  his  face  ;  but  with  the  utter  absence  of  the 
emperor's  unsympathizing  grandeur.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  son  has  a  face  of  much  sentiment  and 
feeling  ;  the  lips  full,  the  eyelids  pensive  ;  more  of 
kindness  than  of  character  in  his  expression. 

"  The  grand  duchess  Olga,  second  daughter  of 
the  emperor,  was  (in  1840)  a  most  beautiful  girl  of 
sixteen,  just  restored  from  a  dangerous  fever,  the 
traces  of  which  were  visible  in  the  exquisite  deli- 
cacy of  her  complexion,  and  in  the  light,  girl-like 
cap  worn  to  hide  the  absence  of  those  tresses  which 
had  been  sacrificed  to  her  illness." 

On  the  same  occasion,  "the  emperor — the  plain- 
est-dressed, but  the  most  magnificent  figure  present, 
wanted  no  outward  token  to  declare  the  dignity  of 
his  presence.  He  passed  slowly  on,  accommo- 
dating his  manly  movements  to  the  short,  feeble 
steps  of  the  empress,  who,  arrayed  in  a  blaze  of 
jewels,  dragged  a  heavy  train  of  orange-colored 
velvet  after  her,  and  seemed  hardly  able  to  support 
her  own  weight." 

Great  minds  can  seldom  accustom  themselves 
to  etiquette  and  ceremony.  Napoleon  threw  off 
ceremony  in  the  camp,  and  was  adored  by  his  sol- 
diers. He  wanted  etiquette  in  his  court,  but 
gained  nothing  by  it.  No  truly  great  man  ever 
cared  for  trifles.     Nicholas,  from  all  accounts,  ap- 


260  VlNDICAflON    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

pears  to  disregard  mere  appearances,  and  to  be  the 
most  homely  (in  the  Scotch  sense  of  the  word) 
personage  in  all  Russia.  He  habitually  commands 
at  parades.  Enveloped  in  dust,  the  cavalcade 
dashes  along  like  a  mighty  thunder-cloud,  from 
which  flash  forth  the  lightnings  of  arms  and  of  or- 
ders. The  soldiers  present  arms,  while  all  the 
spectators  uncover  at  the  approach  of  majesty. 
"Good  day,  my  lads!  "  cries  the  emperor.  ''  We 
thank  your  majesty,"  is  the  reply  that  bursts  like 
thunder  from  every  mouth. 

"  But  it  is  by  no  means  necessary  to  go  to  the 
parade  to  see  the  emperor.  He  appears  so  often  on 
foot,  on  horseback,  in  droska,  or  in  one-horse 
sledge,  that  he  is  precisely  the  person  whom  you 
are  sure  to  meet  oftenest  in  the  streets  of  St.  Peters- 
burg. There  is  not  a  monarch  in  the  world  whom 
so  many  occupations  lead  into  the  streets,  or  who  is 
pressed  by  such  a  prodigious  mass  of  business  —  dai- 
ly inspections  of  the  hundred  institutions  of  his 
capital  J  visits  to  the  offices  of  the  different  minis- 
ters ;  reviews ;  participation  in  popular  amusements 
prescribed  by  ancient  custom ;  personal  directions 
for  building  public  edifices ;  visits  to  high  person- 
ages, and  even  to  sick  old  ladies,  and  a  hundred 
other  matters. 

"  On  all  ordinary  occasions,  wherever  the  emperor 
makes  his  appearance,  it  is  in  the  plainest  and  most 
unostentatious  manner  in  the  world.  Natives  of 
the  West,  as  well  as  Orientals,  are  surprised  to  see 
how  much  greatness,  power,  and  majesty,  can  submit 
to  be  drawn  along  the  streets  in  a  single  sledge,  by 
a  single  horse.  On  his  journeys  in  the  interior  of 
the  empire,  the  sovereign  is  frequently  seen  in  a 
common,  rudely-made  tilega,  such  as  is  used  by 
the  serfs  j  and  one  can  scarcely  conceive  how  it 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  261 

happens  that  he  is  not  afraid  of  diminishing  his 
consequence.  I  am  convinced  that  the  pettiest 
prince  in  Germany  would  make  some  scruple,  if 
he  were  asked  to  step  into  a  small,  low  droska, 
such  as  the  emperor  of  all  the  Russias  is  seen  in 
every  day.  One  is  the  more  puzzled  to  account 
for  this,  because,  at  other  times,  the  court  of  Russia 
displays  a  splendor  and  magnificence  not  surpassed 
by  any.* 

"At  St.  Petersburg,  Nicholas  has  often  gone 
home,  when  it  rained,  in  a  hired  droska.  Once, 
when  he  happened  to  have  no  money  about  him,  and 
the  driver  did  not  know  his  quality,  the  man  kept 
his  cloak  till  his  fare  was  sent  to  him."f 

On  Easter  morning,  it  is  the  custom  of  the  Rus- 
sians to  salute  each  other  with,  "Christ  is  risen." 
One  Easter,  on  coming  out  of  the  palace,  he  gave 
the  customary  salutation  to  the  sentry  at  the  door, 

"  Indeed,  your  majesty,  he  is  not,"  replied  the 
soldier. 

ic  Why  !  —What !  —  I  said,  ' Christ  is  risen.'  " 

"And  I  replied,  'He  is  not.'  " 

"  Who,  and  what,  in  God's  name,  are  you,  then  ?  " 

"  A  Jew,  by  your  majesty's  favor." 

In  no  one  thing  has  the  emperor  shown  himself 
to  more  advantage  than  in  the  encouragement  he 
has  given  to  learning.  Not  to  speak  of  improve- 
ments on  former  institutions,  which  it  would  be 
impossible  to  trace,  let  us  simply  say,  that  almost 
all  the  vast  plans  of  national  education,  devised  by 
Alexander,  were  left  by  him  for  Nicholas  to  accom- 
plish. 

The  University  of  Kieff,  or  St.  Wladimir,  was 
founded  and  endowed  by  him,  in  1834,  to  supply 

*  Kohl.  t  Ritchie. 


262  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

the  place  of  that  of  Wilna,  which  he  found  it  neces- 
sary to  suppress  after  the  insurrection  of  1830-31. 
In  1838,  it  had  eighty-eight  professors  and  subordi- 
nate functionaries,  and  two  hundred  and  three  pu- 
pils. In  1835,  it  had  a  revenue  of  250,000  rubles. 
There  are  four  governments  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  this  university,  in  which  there  were  one  lycenm, 
seven  gymnasiums,  and  twenty-five  free  schools, 
with  four  hundred  and  sixty  pupils.  Fifty  pupils 
are  educated  at  the  public  expense  at  this  institu- 
tion, of  whom  twenty-six  are  intended  for  teachers. 
The  remaining  twenty-four  are  instructed  in  the 
law,  to  enable  them  to  fill  judicial  and  other  offices 
in  the  old  Polish  provinces. 

The  university  district  of  White  Russia  had,  in 
1835,  no  university ;  but  it  had  twelve  gymnasi- 
ums and  a  high  school.  We  have  no  accounts  of 
it  since  that  period. 

The  university  of  Helsingfors,  in  Finland,  was 
founded,  in  1829,  in  the  place  of  that  of  Abo,  de- 
stroyed by  fire  the  same  year.  It  had  forty  pro- 
fessors, and  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  pupils,  in 
1832.  There  are  nearly  four  hundred  establish- 
ments of  learning  in  Finland. 

There  was  a  lyceum  in  Odessa  in  1835,  and  five 
gymnasiums  and  thirteen  high  schools  within  its 
jurisdiction. 

In  the  Transcaucasian  district,  there  is  a  gym- 
nasium, a  free  school,  and  twelve  central  schools. 

There  are  also  a  great  many  schools  founded  for 
particular  purposes,  such  as  military  schools  in  St. 
Petersburg,  Moscow,  and  other  places,  especial 
schools  for  the  nobility,  medical  and  theologicsd 
schools,  &c. 

These  last  are  intended  for  the  children  of  the 
clergy.     We  have  no  means  of  ascertaining  which 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS. 


263 


of  these  are  old,  and  which  are  new  ;  but  there  is 
a  very  great  improvement  throughout,  as  will  be 
seen  by  the  following  table,  which  only  embraces 
the  first  ten  years  of  the  present  emperor's  reign  :  — 


1804. 

1824. 

1838. 

SchooU 

Pupils. 

School* 

Pupils. 

Schools 

Pupils. 

Schools  under  the  Minis- > 
ter  of  Pub.  Instruction,  5 
Military  Schools,  .     .     . 
Ecclesiastical  do.  .     .     . 
Special              do.  .     .     . 

499 

15 

100 

13 

33,481 

29,000 
15,000 
31,775 

1,411 

117 

544 
46 

2,118 

69,629 

102,295 
50,000 
41,300 

1,681    85,707 

152  179,580 

601  i  67,424 

1,522  127,864 

Total, 

627 

109,256 

203,224 

3,956  460,575 

Of  the  460,575  schools  existing  in  1825,  2841 
were  maintained  at  the  expense  of  the  government. 
Not  less  than  252,311  of  the  pupils  were  educat- 
ed gratuitously,  and  the  total  school  expenses  in- 
curred that  year  by  the  government  amounted  to 
28,734,141  rubles.  If  we  add  to  the  pupils  at 
school  those  educated  at  home,  it  Avill  be  admitted 
that  education  has  made  very  rapid  progress  in 
Russia. 

The  board  of  education  at  St.  Petersburg  have 
recently  established  eleven  hundred  and  fifty-nine 
schools  in  Poland.  It  has  been  asserted,  again  and 
again,  that  the  emperor  is  inimical  to  education  in 
Poland.  On  the  contrary,  on  the  25th  of  August, 
he  addressed  the  following  missive  to  Field-marshal 
Prince  Theodorowitsch  :  — 


''  Prince  John  Theodorowitsch :  Considering 
that  there  is  a  great  want  of  the  necessary  aids  to 
instruction  (viz.,  books)  in  the  district  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  VVarsaw,  I  have  thought  fit  to  present  to 
it  a  collection,  expressly  selected,  of  about  thirteen 
thousand  volumes.  The  minister  of  public  in- 
struction is  to  a:ive  directions  respecting   the  con- 


264  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

veyance  of  these  books  for  the  learned  and  scien- 
tific institutions  in  the  district  under  the  Warsaw- 
University,  in  concert  with  the  university  library. 
May  this  present  serve  as  a  new  proof  of  my  care 
for  the  prosperity  and  education  of  the  youth  of 
Poland,  and  may  it  excite  in  them  the  most  zealous 
endeavors  to  answer  my  paternal  intentions." 

Next  in  importance  to  the  university  at  St.  Pe- 
tersburg is  the  ''  Pedagogic  Institution,"  designed 
solely  for  the  instruction  of  teachers  of  all  kinds, 
masters  of  popular,  circular,  and  gymnasial  schools, 
and  professors  for  the  universities.  It  was  founded 
ill  1832,  to  suppress  or  reform  the  system  of  in- 
struction in  Poland,  and  to  take  it  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  Jesuits.  Boys  of  twelve  are  admitted,  and 
all  who  apply  are  taken  ;  but  for  the  details  of  this 
institution,  and  of  education  generally,  in  Russia, 
we  must  refer  the  reader  to  ^'  Russia  and  the  Rus- 
sians," by  J.  G.  Kohl,  where  he  will  find  all  the 
information  he  needs. 

Those  who,  deriving  their  impressions  from  Po- 
lish fugitives,  take  the  emperor  of  Russia  for  a 
man  of  harsh  and  repulsive  nature,  are  grossly  de- 
ceived. We  could  fill  a  large  book  with  anecdotes 
of  his  benevolence.  He  gave  a  poor  tradesman  a 
pension  of  two  thousand  rubles,  and  an  order,  for 
saving  the  lives  of  persons  endangered  at  the  con- 
flagration of  the  Katscheli  theatre,  where  three 
hundred  persons  perished. 

At  Helsingfors,  the  emperor  may  be  said  to  have 
played  the  part  of  a  benignant  Providence,  in  or- 
daining the  happiness  of  the  poor,  but  passing  fair, 
Baroness  K.,  and  a  meritorious,  but  equally  pover- 
ty-stricken Russian  officer.  Moved  by  the  faithful 
love  and  fading  charms  of  the  baroness,  the  em- 
peror gave  her  a  pension,  to  make  the  course  of  true 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS. 


265 


love  run  smooth.  The  experiment  was  as  success- 
ful as  the  one  tried  by  the  mock  doctor  in  "  Le 
Medecin  Malgre  Lui.^'' 

The  peasants  of  Russia  owe  it  to  Nicholas  that 
their  lords  are  obliged  to  provide  for  them  in  dis- 
tress. He  also  ordered  that  vagrants  and  beggars 
should  be  set  to  work.  Even  the  Siberian  author- 
ities are  obliged  to  prevent  any  individual  commit- 
ted to  them  from  suffering  want.  Similar  charity 
has  been  extended  to  Poland. 

At  one  time,  the  emperor  sent  a  very  handsome 
contribution  to  the  "  distressed  Poles  in  England." 
The  distressed  Poles  sent  it  back  again.  We  rec- 
ollect but  one  like  instance  of  distressed  magna- 
nimity. It  was  when  relief  was  sent  from  Boston 
to  the  sufferers  by  a  fire  in  the  south,  with  a  re- 
quest that  it  might  be  distributed  "without  regard 
to  color."  The  sufferers  sent  the  almsgiving  back, 
with,  "  Thank  you  !  —  we  don't  want  any  of  your 
advice." 

Of  the  emperor's  liberal  encouragement  of  the  fine 
artSy  of  the  talents  he  has  drawn  from  obscurity, 
the  number  of  artists  he  has  sent  to  be  educated  in 
Italy,  the  voyages  of  discovery  he  has  fitted  forth, 
a  great  deal  more  might  be  said  than  we  deem  at 
all  necessary.  We  have  not  the  means  of  ascer- 
taining the  number  of  times  the  imperial  hand  has 
been  put  forth  in  aid  of  struggling  merit  and  public 
improvement — we  can  only  judge  of  his  general 
course  by  its  results.  We  do  not  say  that  Russia 
has  advanced  as  much  under  his  reign  as  it  did 
in  that  of  Peter  the  Great  —  such  sudden  changes 
can  occur  but  seldom  in  the  history  of  a  people ; 
but  we  may  say  that  as  much  has  been  effected  for 
the  general  good,  in  the  twenty  years  of  Nicholas's 
rule,  as  from  the  commencement  of  the  reign  of 
23 


266  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

Catherine  to  the  end  of  that  of  Alexander.  Every 
writer,  even  the  most  prejudiced,  bears  us  out  in 
the  supposition. 

It  is,  we  believe,  the  nature  of  mankind  to  take 
the  part  of  the  wronged  ;  it  is  ours,  at  least.  The 
excess  of  the  abuse  lavished  on  Nicholas  Romanoff 
first  induced  us  to  inquire  how  far  it  was  deserved. 
The  result  has  been  the  preceding  pages. 

We  have  had  the  emperor's  portrait  taken,  and 
placed  where  it  is  seen  and  admired  by  thousands ; 
just  as  we  should  strive  to  make  George  Washing- 
ton, or  Benjamin  Franklin,  or  any  other  great  ben- 
efactor to  the  human  race,  conspicuous.  It  is  the 
universal  mistake  to  take  the  thousands  for  the 
people,  instead  of  the  millions.  We  find  the  Em- 
peror Nicholas  cursed  by  the  soi-di&ant  Polish  na- 
tion, the  small  and  arrogant  aristocracy ;  and  unpopu- 
lar with  the  advocates  of  conservatism  every  where  ; 
while  the  millions  of  Poland  and  Russia,  the  la- 
boring classes,  the  people^  bless  his  name,  with  one 
voice. 

We  have  not  altogether  relied  upon  our  own 
judgment,  either.  We  have  induced  others  to 
think,  to  inquire,  and  to  examine,  and  the  result 
has  invariably  been  the  same.  Any  one  who  will 
take  the  pains  to  think,  and  to  compare  the  evi- 
dence for  and  against  Russia  and  its  emperor,  must 
come  to  the  conclusion  we  have  reached. 

We  have  made  inquiry,  too,  of  our  countrymen 
who  have  voyaged  in  Russia  —  the  fruit  of  our  in- 
quiries may  be  found  scattered  over  the  preceding 
pages.  It  may  not  be  amiss,  in  this  connection, 
to  quote  a  letter  from  our  esteemed  friend  and  fel- 
low-countryman, the  Rev.  R.  Baird,  D.  D.,  which 
was  addressed  to  us  in  answer  to  our  inquiries  re- 
specting the  emperor  of  Russia.      We  present  the 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  267 

views  of  Dr.  Baird  with  peculiar  pleasure  and  satis- 
faction,inasmuch  as  they  are  the  result  of  his  personal 
observations  during  his  residence  in  Russia.  Such 
authority  cannot  be  questioned. 

«  New  York,  September  19, 1844. 

^' My  Dear  Sir: 

"  In  answer  to  your  inquiries  concerning  the  Em- 
peror Nicholas,  I  would  say,  — 

*^  1.  He  is  an  able,  sagacious,  laborious,  and  patri- 
otic prince  and  ruler.  He  devotes  himself  most 
assiduously  to  the  proper  task  of  a  ruler,  and  looks 
after  every  thing  as  far  as  it  is  possible  for  a  mortal 
man  to  do  so.  It  is  certainly  no  easy  task  to  gov- 
ern, as  an  absolute  sovereign,  62,000,000  of  people, 
most  of  whom  are  imperfectly  civilized,  speak- 
ing more  than  30  languages  and  dialects,  and 
scattered  over  a  territory  more  than  four  times  and 
a  half  greater  than  the  settled  portions  of  the  terri- 
tory claimed  by  the  United  States.  In  such  a  gov- 
ernment, and  such  a  variety  of  nations  and  lan- 
guages, and  in  a  country  of  such  vast  extent,  there 
must  necessarily  be  a  great  deal  committed  to  sub- 
ordinates ;  and  as  these  are  proverbially  dishonest, 
and  often  extremely  incapable,  there  must  necessa- 
rily be  a  great  deal  of  mal-administration.  Fla- 
grant injustice  is  often,  very  often  perpetrated,  in 
cases  which  never  reach  the  emperor's  ears,  or,  if 
they  do,  he  knows  not  what  to  do,  in  order  to 
attain  what  would  be  strict  justice. 

"2.  Good  men  of  every  nation  whom  I  have 
known  in  Russia  —  English,  Americans,  Swiss, 
Germans,  as  well  as  natives,  have  agrfeed  in  this 
opinion  respecting  the  emperor,  viz.,  that  his  aim 
and  effort  is  to  do  what  is  right  so  far  as  he  knows, 
and  that  he  has  at  heart   (perhaps  more   than  any 


268  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

Other  maa  in  Russia)  the  best  interests  of  the  empire. 
He  may  do  many  things  which  are  wrong,  many 
which  are  perhaps  unwise,  even  some  which  are  un- 
just ;  but  it  is  from  want  of  knowledge,  which  in- 
deed it  would  be  expecting  more  than  ought  to  be  ex- 
pected from  any  man,  to  suppose  him,  in  evei-y  case, 
to  possess.  By  all  disinterested  and  well-informed 
men,  such  as  intelligent  and  good  foreigners  of 
every  nation,  he  is  believed  to  be  the  best  sover- 
eign —  I  mean  the  most  wise,  efficient,  and  capable 
sovereign  —  Russia  has  ever  had. 

"  3.  Facts  prove  that  he  is  more  desirous  of  ad- 
vancing the  civilization  of  his  empire  than  its  ex- 
tension by  military  conquests.  He  has  done  al- 
most nothing  at  all  to  enlarge  his  dominions ; 
whilst  he  has  done,  and  is  doing,  much  to  promote 
education,  the  useful  arts,  and  every  good  thing, 
among  his  people.  In  this  he  has  far  exceeded  all 
his  predecessors,  unless  we  except  Peter  the  Great  j 
and  I  know  not  that  he  ought  to  be  excepted.         i 

"  4.  The  emperor  may  be  deceived  and  misled  by 
those  around  him,  and  doubtless  often  is ;  but  he  is 
governed  by  no  favorite  —  which  can  be  asserted  of 
none  of  his  predecessors,  and  of  few  absolute  inon- 
archs  that  have  ever  lived. 

"  5.  As  to  his  moral  character,  it  would  be  hard 
to  find  a  kinder  father,  or  a  more  affectionate 
husband.  And,  without  claiming  for  him  a  true 
moral  character,  in  the  sense  in  which  we  use  the 
expression,  it  may  nevertheless  be  Eisserted  that  he  is 
afar  more  exemplary  man,  in  his  words  and  actions, 
than  most  public  men  in  this  or  any  other  country. 

"  6.  There  is,  probably,  no  monarch  in  the  world 
who  exceeds  him  in  strength  of  mind  or  in  readi- 
ness of  comprehension  ;  though  in  acquired  knowl- 
edge, he  is  inferior  to  the  kings  of  France,  Prussia, 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  269 

and  Holland  ;  for  he  came  early  to  his  throne,  and 
has  had  little  leisure  for  reaiing  since. 
"  I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

"  Yours  most  truly, 

'R.  Baird." 

We  have  little  left  but  to  endeavor  to  communi- 
cate some  personal  idea  of  the  emperor,  which  we 
shall  best  accomplish  by  citing  the  impression  of 
the  lady  letter-writer  from  the  Baltic.  What  she 
relates  took  place  at  a  masquerade  at  the  Great 
Theatre,  at  St.  Petersburg. 

"  I  was  now  becoming  impatient  for  a  nearer 
view  of  that  awful  personage  whom  all  united  in 
describing  as  le  plus  bel  homme  qii'un  puisse  sHm- 
aginer,^  and  who,  whether  seen  from  the  dimin- 
ished heights  of  the  Salle  Blanche,  or  dashing 
along,  his  white  feather  streaming,  and  muffled  in 
his  military  cloak,  in  his  solitary  sledge  with  one 
horse,  or  striding  with  powerful  steps,  utterly 
unattended,  in  the  dusk  of  the  early  evening,  the 
whole  length  of  the  Nevski,  wore  a  halo  of  majesty 
it  was  impossible  to  overlook.  An  opportunity  for 
a  closer  view  soon  presented  itself. 

"  The  heritier,  the  grand  duke  Michael,  the  duke 
de  Leichtenberg,  were  all  seen  passing,  in  turn,  each 
led  about  by  a  whispering  mask.  ''  Mais  on  est  done 
Vempereurl  "  '*  II  n'y  est  pas  encore,^''  f  was  the 
answer ;  but  scarce  was  this  uttered  when  a  tower- 
ing plume  moved,  the  crowd  fell  back,  and,  en- 
framed in  a  vacant  space,  stood  a  figure,  to  which 
there  is  no  second  in  Russia,  if  in  the  world  itself; 
a  figure  of  the  grandest  beauty,  expression,  dimen- 
sion, and  carriage,  uniting  all   the  majesties  and 

*  The  handsomest  man  imaginable, 
t  "  But  where,  then,  is  the  emperor  r "    "  Not  here  yet." 
23* 


270  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

graces  of  the  heathen  gods  (the  little  god  of  love 
alone  perhaps  excepted)  on  his  ample  and  symmet- 
rical proportions.  Had  this  nobility  of  person  be- 
longed to  a  simple  mujik^  instead  of  to  the  autocrat 
of  all  the  Russias,  the  admiration  could  not  have 
been  less,  nor  scarcely  the  feeling  of  moral  awe.  It 
was  not  the  monarch  who  was  so  magnificent  a 
man,  but  the  man  who  was  so  truly  imperial.  He 
stood  awhile  silent  and  haughty,  as  if  disdaining 
all  the  vanity  and  levity  around  him ;  when,  per- 
ceiving my  two  distinguished  companions,  he  strode 
grandly  towards  our  box,  and,  just  lifting  his 
plumes,  with  a  lofty  bow,  stooped  and  kissed  the 
princess's  hand,  (who  in  return  imprinted  a  kiss  on 
the  imperial  cheek,)  and  then,  leaning  against  the 
pillar,  remained  in  conversation. 

"  The  person  of  the  emperor  is  that  of  a  colossal 
man  in  the  full  prime  of  life  and  health  ;  forty-two 
years  of  age,  about  six  feet  two  inches  high,  and 
well  filled  out,  without  any  approach  to  corpulency  ; 
the  head  magnificently  carried,  a  splendid  breadth 
of  shoulder  and  chest,  great  length  and  symmetry 
of  limb,  with  finely-formed  hands  and  feet.  His 
face  is  strictly  Grecian  —  forehead  and  nose  in  one 
grand  line,  the  eyes  finely  lined,  large,  open,  and 
blue,  with  a  calmness,  a  coldness,  a  freezing  dig- 
nity, which  can  equally  quell  an  insurrection,  daunt 
an  assassin,  or  paralyze  a  petitioner  ;  the  mouth 
regular,  the  teeth  fine,  chin  prominent,  with  dark 
moustache,  and  small  whisker ;  but  not  a  sympathy 
on  his  face.  His  mouth  sometimes  smiled,  his 
eyes  never.  There  was  that  in  his  look  which  no, 
monarch's  subject  could  meet.  His  eye  seeks  ev-» 
ery  one's  gaze  ;  but  none  can  confront  his. 

"  After  a  few  minutes,  his  curiosity,  the  unfail- 
ing attribute  of  a  crowned  head,  dictated  the  words, 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  271 

''  Kto  eta  ?  "  ''  Who  is  that  ?  "  —  and  being  satis- 
fied, (for  he  remarks  every  strange  face  that  enters 
his  capital,)  he  continued,  alternately  in  Russian  and 
French,  commenting  upor  the  scene. 

"  Personne  ne  rii' intrigue  ce  soir,^^  he  said.  "  Je 
7ie  sais  pas  ce  que  faj  fait  pour  per dre  ma  reputa- 
tion ;  mais  on  ne  veut  pas  de  moty  *  As  he  stood, 
various  masks  approached  ;  but,  either  from  excess 
of  embarrassment,  or  from  lack  of  wit,  after  rousing 
the  lion,  found  nothing  to  say.  At  length  a  couple 
approached,  and  stood  irresolute,  each  motioning 
the  other  to  speak.  ''  Donnez  moi  la  jnain,^^  f 
said  a  low,  trembling  voice.  He  stretched  out  his 
noble  hand  :  "  Et  voila  V autre  pour  vous^''^X  said  he, 
extending  the  other  to  her  companion  ;  and  on  they 
passed,  probably  never  to  forget  the  mighty  hand 
that  had  clasped  theirs.  Meanwhile,  the  emperor 
carefully  scanned  the  crowd,  and  owned  himself 
in  search  of  a  mask  who  had  attacked  him  on  his 
first  entrance.  "  Quand  je  Vaurai  trouve,  je  vous 
Vaminerai  ;  "  ||  and  so  saying,  he  left  us. 

"  I  watched  his  figure,  which,  as  if  surrounded 
with  an  invisible  barrier,  bore  a  vacant  space  about 
it  through  the  thickest  of  the  press.  In  a  short 
time,  a  little  mask  stepped  boldly  up  to  him,  and, 
reaching  upwards  to  her  utmost  stretch,  hung  her- 
self fearlessly  upon  that  arm  which  wields  the  des- 
tinies of  the  seventh  part  of  the  known  world.  He 
threw  a  look  to  our  box,  as  if  to  say,  ''  I  have  found 
her,"  and  off  they  went  together.  In  five  minutes 
they  passed  again,  and  his  majesty  made  some 
effort  to  draw  her  to  our  box  ;  but  the  little  black 

*  "  Nobody  tries  to  puzzle  me  this  evening.  I  don't  know  what  I 
have  done  to  lose  my  reputation ;  but  nobody  wants  any  thing  to 
do  with  me." 

t  "  Give  me  your  hand."  j  "  And  there's  the  other  for  you." 
II  "  When  I  have  found  her,  I  will  bring  her  to  you." 


272  VINDICATION    or    RUSSIA    AND 

sylph  resisted,  pulling  in  a  contrary  direction  at  his 
lofty  shoulder  with  all  her  strength  ;  on  which  he 
called  out,  ''  Elle  ne  vcut  pas  que  je  7n^approche  de 
vous ;  elle  dit  que  je  suis  trop  mauvaise  socUte.^^  * 
Upon  the  second  round,  however,  he  succeeded 
in  bringing  his  rebellious  subject  nearer ;  when, 
recognizing  his  manoeuvre,  she  plucked  her  arm 
away,  gave  him  a  smart  slap  on  the  wrist,  and  say- 
ing, "  Va  fe7i  ;  je  ne  veux  plus  de  /oz,"t  '^^^^  ii^^^ 
the  crowd.  The  emperor,  they  assured  me,  was  in 
an  unusual  good  temper  this  evening.  I  think 
there  can  be  no  doubt  of  it. 

^'  When  a  mask  has  pleased  his  fancy,  the  em- 
peror never  rests  till  he  has  discovered  her  real 
name,  and  sets  his  secret  police  upon  the  scent 
with  as  much  zest  as  after  a  political  offender.  The 
mask  whom  we  had  observed,  at  the  theatre,  on 
such  familiar  terms  with  him,  was  recognized,  a 
few  days  after,  to  be  a  little  modiste  from  the  most 
fashionable  milliner's  in  St.  Petersburg,  whose  fre- 
quent errands  to  the  empress  had  furnished  her  with 
a  few  graphic  touches  of  the  imperial  character. 

"  In  a  country  where,  unfortunately,  neither  pro- 
motion, nor  justice,  nor  redress,  generally  speaking, 
is  to  be  had  without  interest,  this  means  of  direct- 
ly reaching  the  imperial  ear,  or  that  of  the  chief 
officers  of  the  state,  (of  presenting  a  living  anony- 
mous letter  —  of  dropping  information  which  they 
are  bound,  if  not  to  favor,  at  all  events  not  to  take 
amiss,)  is  immensely  resorted  to.  The  emperor  has 
been  known  to  remonstrate  loudly  at  being  annoyed 
with  business  or  complaint  in  these  few  hours  of 
relaxation ;  but  this  is  rather  to  the  awkwardness 


*  "  She  won't  let  me  come  near  you ;  she  says  I  am  too  bad 
company," 

t  "  Go  along  —  I  want  no  more  of  you." 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  273 

or  embarrassment  of  the  poor  petitioner,  who,  feel- 
ing the  welfare  of  a  father  or  brother,  or  of  a 
whole  family,  hanging  upon  the  force  of  her  slen- 
der words  ;  addressing,  for  the  first  time,  the  awful 
individual  whose  word  makes  and  unmakes  a  law  ; 
and  ashamed,  perhaps,  of  the  disguise  to  which  she 
has  been  compelled ;  can  neither  command  the 
calmness  nor  adroitness  necessary  to  smooth  the 
way  for  her  blunter  petition. 

''  On  the  other  hand,  where  the  complainant,  by 
a  happy  address  or  a  well-timed  flattery,  has  dis- 
posed the  imperial  palate  for  the  reception  of  more 
sober  truths,  her  case  has  been  listened  to  with 
humanity,  and  met  by  redress.  More  than  once 
the  emperor  was  observed  engaged  with  a  mask  in 
conversation,  who  had  evidently  digressed  from 
levity  into  a  more  serious  strain,  and  was  overheard 
to  thank  the  mask  for  her  information,  and  promise 
the  subject  his  attention.  . 

"  In  consequence  of  the  taste  that  his  majesty 
ha§  of  late  years  evinced  for  this  species  of 
amusement,  the  masked  balls  have  greatly  increased 
in  number  and  resort.  Previous  to  being  incapaci- 
tated by  bad  health,  the  empress  also  equally  par- 
took of  them ;  and,  it  is  said,  greatly  enjoyed  being 
addressed  with  the  same  familiarity  as  any  of  her 
subjects.  Her  majesty  has  even  been  the  cause  of 
severe  terrors  to  many  an  unfortunate  individual, 
who,  new  to  the  scene,  or  not  recognizing  by  filial 
instinct  the  maternal  arm  which  pressed  his,  has 
either  himself  indulged  in  too  much  license  of 
speech,  or  given  the  imperial  mask  to  understand 
that  he  found  hers  devoid  of  interest." 

The  Emperor  Nicholas  is  doing  more  to  en- 
courage agriculture,  commerce,  and  the  arts,  than, 


274  VINDICATION    OF    RUSSIA    AND 

any  other  living  monarch.  Amid  the  pressing  and 
weighty  cares  of  government,  he  is  introducing 
and  fostering,  by  his  purse  and  the  presence  of  his 
person,  every  department  of  science  and  mechan- 
ism. We  have  it  on  the  best  authority,  that  he 
neglects  no  valuable  invention,  or  fails  to  encour- 
age and  sustain  whatever  may  be  useful  to  the 
improvement  and  well-being  of  his  people.  The 
able  and  intelligent  editor  of  the  New  York  Ex- 
press, E.  Brooks,  Esq.,  thus  speaks  of  a  Fair  he 
recently  attended  at  Moscow  :  — 

"  From  the  Treasury  I  was  favored  with  a  visit 
to  a  grand  exhibition  of  all  the  varieties  of  goods 
manufactured  in  Russia  ;  and  no  ways  prejudiced 
as  I  am  in  favor  of  the  country  I  am  in,  but  heart- 
ily disliking  it  altogether,  I  must  say,  that  I  have 
never  seen  at  home  an  exhibition  half  as  creditable. 
I  did  not  expect  to  see  any  thing  in  Moscow  that 
would  eclipse  the  annual  exhibition  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  in  New  York ;  nor  should  I,  if  the 
government  at  Washington  or  at  Albany  afforded 
half  the  favors  to  domestic  skill  and  industry  that 
are  afforded  by  the  government  here.  Such  an  ex- 
hibition in  Moscow  is  an  occurrence  of  but  once 
in  three  years  ;  and  there  is  an  exhibition  in  St. 
Petersburg  as  often,  and  in  some  other  of  the  cities 
of  the  empire,  — making  an  annual  exhibition. 

''  To  enumerate  all  the  articles  exhibited,  would 
be  like  enumerating  all  the  trophies  of  the  Treas- 
ury. There  are  few  kinds  of  goods  not  manufac- 
tured here,  and  few,  the  workmanship  of  which 
would  not  be  creditable  to  any  country.  A  build- 
ing of  three  times  the  space  of  Niblo's  Garden  was 
occupied  with  the  various  kinds  of  workmanship, 
all  neatly  and  tastefully  arranged.  There  was  no 
crowd  or  bustle,  and  the  avenues  were  so  arranged. 


THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS.  275 

that  a  person  entering  at  one  end  of  the  building, 
was  obliged  not  only  to  make  his  egress  from 
another,  but  to  see  every  thing  that  he  passed. 
The  work  in  gold,  and  silver,  and  platina,  was 
most  beautiful.  The  cloths  were  of  a  superior 
order,  and  even  the  cotton  goods  were  well,  strong- 
ly, and  often  beautifully  made.  In  much  of  the 
fancy-work  exhibited,  both  in  dress  and  in  more 
substantial  materials,  the  manufactures  seemed  to 
exhibit  a  capacity  equal  to  the  nations  regarded  as 
very  far  in  advance  of  the  one  we  were  in.  The 
musical  instruments,  too,  were  equal  to  the  best  of 
those  of  Germany,  and  as  much  may  be  said  of 
almost  every  kind  of  work  presented  for  public 
favor.  I  had  seen  few  such  specimens  of  improve- 
ment out  of  the  fair  as  within ;  and  though  it  was 
obvious  the  very  best  of  every  thing  was  here,  and 
arranged  in  the  best  manner  to  make  an  imposing 
display,  yet  every  piece  of  goods,  and  every  article 
of  ware  presented,  would  pass  the  severest  ordeal 
of  inspection." 

The  emperor  has  favored  our  countrymen  with 
various  responsible  and  important  posts  of  honor 
and  emolument.  A  son  of  New  Hampshire  has 
been  created  a  count,  and  is  an  admiral  in  th^ 
Russian  navy  ;  while  other  equally  exalted  as  well 
as  subordinate  offices  are  held  by  Americans.  Of 
the  great  railroad,  now  being  completed  from  St. 
Petersburg  to  Moscow,  Mr.  Whistler  (an  able  en- 
gineer from  Connecticut)  has  the  entire  super- 
vision, and  in  this  magnificent  enterprise  there  are 
also  many  natives  of  America.  Other  roads  are  in 
contemplation,  which  are  to  be  constructed  as  soon 
as  that  road  is  finished.  The  emperor  has  also 
largely  patronized  our  mechanics  by  building  war 


276  RUSSIA    AND    THE    EMPEROR    NICHOLAS. 

Steamers  and  purchasing  millions  of  dollars'  worth 
of  our  steam  engines,  &c.  &c. 

The  delightful  duty  of  defending  the  "  Autocrat 
of  all  the  Russias "  has  been  impartially  but  im- 
perfectly executed;  and  should  it  be  the  means  of 
changing  the  views  of  our  countrymen  in  relation 
to  his  character  and  government,  our  labor  will  be 
abundantly  rewarded.  With  the  memorable  words 
of  Constantino,  (and  we  know  the  impartial  reader 
will  unite  with  us,)  we  desire  ''that  the  Most  High 
may  watch  over  the  precious  health  of  his  Majesty, 
that  He  may  prolong  his  days,  and  that  his  glory, 
and  the  glory  of  his  crown,  may  be  transmitted  from 
generation  to  generation." 


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